IN 1989, TWO most excellent dudes embarked on a bodacious time-travelling adventure that brought them fame, fortune and righteous babes. Bill S Preston Esq and Theodore "Ted" Logan were the titular heroes of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure,the story of two high-school slackers with their own lingo, who are whisked off on a magical history tour. Bill and Ted were played to perfection by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves; the sequel, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, became a huge box-office hit, but while Reeves went on to star in such blockbusters as The Matrix, Point Break and Speed, his most excellent co-star disappeared from view.
Did he fall into some kind of wormhole? Eagle-eyed teen movie buffs will know that Bill and Ted wasn't Winter's first movie role – two years earlier he played Marko in teenage vampire movie The Lost Boys. London-born Winter was a son of showbiz – his American mother and Australian father ran a modern dance company in the family's hometown of St Louis, Missouri. Young Alex learned to dance, but what he really wanted to do was make movies like his hero, Buster Keaton. He began his acting career at just 10, appearing in such stage staples as The King and I(with Yul Brynner himself), Peter Pan and Oliver! (with Vincent Price).
After the success of Bill and Ted, Winter, who had studied film and shot videos for such bands as The Butthole Surfers and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, went back behind the camera to make cult US TV comedy The Idiot Box. He directed his first feature film, the gonzo comedy Freaked,but the studio found it too wacky for their tastes, and scrapped its release. It has since gained almost-mythical status among cult-movie freaks. He had better luck with his next feature, the psychological thriller Fever, which was shown at Cannes. Winter has made a good living shooting TV commercials – the famous Thelma and Louise-themed Peugeot campaign is his. He also directed two live-action TV movies featuring cartoon hero Ben 10. He and wife Sonya have a 14-year-old son, Leroy.
This year, Winter premieres his latest film, Downloaded,a documentary about Napster and the file-sharing generation. He had originally planned to make it as a drama, but was trumped by The Social Network, so he decided to work it as a straight documentary instead. He'll be appearing at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March, along with Napster's Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. He's still close buddies with Reeves, and there's been talk of a third outing with Bill and Ted. A script has been written, but nothing has been finalised. Rumour has it that Justin Bieber is to star. No Way! Bogus!
