Interviews
William Sadler On Reviving Death For ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’ [Interview]
At the conclusion of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Death (William Sadler) joined the Wyld Stallyns band after aiding Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) in their bid to return to Earth and defeat their evil robot counterparts. An integral role in saving the day, a series of news and magazine headlines over the end credits indicated the Wyld Stallyns had achieved massive fame, and that eventually Death, the bassist, had a major falling out and went solo. Bill & Ted Face the Music picks up twenty-nine years later, with Bill and Ted still as yet to achieve their destiny. As time is of the essence, you can expect Death to pop up once more on their latest journey.
Speaking with Sadler about his return to the franchise, he revealed, “I don’t think it’s been an easy 29 years for him. His musical career has gone down the toilet, and God is pissed off at him for bringing the guys back to life in the first place. You’re not supposed to do that, apparently. When we meet the Reaper in this movie, he’s in a pretty dark place. I don’t want to give away a plot point, but his solo career didn’t go well.”
That passage of time may have been a punishing crawl for Death, but slipping back into his character wasn’t so difficult for the veteran actor. With a laugh, Sadler jokes, “The robes are very slimming. No, I was surprised! I watched the first two movies again before I went to work on the third one, just to remind myself what I had done. I was really surprised at how easy it was to fall right back into this guy. He’s so much fun to play. He’s big, and he’s petulant, and his ego gets bruised really easy.” As for that earworm accent, that came easy too. “That’s how I get into the character. It’s Czechoslovakian; I think because I stole it directly from a Czech actor named Jan Triska, who I worked with in theater back in the ‘80s in New York. It’s this beautiful mutilation of the accent. Traditionally Death is the thing you’re most frightened of, but I thought if I gave him that accent, I could make him funny.”
The biggest hurdle in reviving Death for the sequel turned out to be the makeup. It wasn’t just the makeup process that altered a bit, but the actor’s response to it. “It took about the same length of time; it took three hours to get it all on. The technique is different now; they use airbrushes now instead of makeup brushes, sponges, and things. So, that was pretty much the same. What was different is that in the intervening years, I developed an allergy to makeups. My face started to burn and swell up. I would do it for a couple of days, then one night they’d take it off, and I’d wake up the next morning with my eyes swollen shut. We’d call the makeup team and tell them we needed to try something else. They’d try this, they’d try that, and finally, I was on prednisone to keep the swelling down. That part wasn’t fun, but the makeup is part of the transformation, and the transformation is a lot of fun.”
Because of his extensive career full of noteworthy films featuring ensemble casts, from Bill & Ted to Demon Knight to The Shawshank Redemption, it sparked a question of whether story or casting drives Sadler in choosing his projects. He explained, “Somehow, these projects pick me. I don’t do a lot of picking and choosing. If they come along and they’re interesting, I get involved. Like VFW, as soon as they started telling me who else was in it, I said ‘yeah, of course.’ Any time you can gather really talented professionals together and give them something that they can sink their teeth into, it’s just fun. It doesn’t get any better than that. I think that’s why VFW was so much fun for audiences because we all knew each other beforehand. The same thing happened with Shawshank. That was deliberate. That was Frank Darabont and Niki Marvin, when they put together the cast for Shawshank, there was a moment when they were talking to Tom Cruise to play Tim Robbins’ role. They even did table reads at Castle Rock. Frank didn’t want to use Tom Cruise because he didn’t want it to be a star vehicle; he wanted it to be an ensemble. They deliberately cast people who had strong theater backgrounds who create individual characters but play as a team. I’m pretty sure that’s why it worked as well as it did.”
We’ll have to wait for the release of Bill & Ted Face the Music to see if the Wyld Stallyns finally fulfill their destiny and create the music that saves the world. But we did ask the musically inclined Sadler if music or movies were the greater unifiers. Without hesitation, he answers, “Music. Music is just such a universal language. You don’t have to speak the same language; you don’t even need any equipment besides a human voice. The music that underpins the movies that we do is just as important. I hear the James Bond theme music, and my spirit starts to rise.”
Bill & Ted Face the Music releases on PVOD and in theaters August 28, 2020.
Interviews
The Work ‘Grind’ Is Hell, So Brea Grant & Ed Dougherty Made a Horror Anthology About It [CFF 2026 Interview]
Genre fans rejoice! Chattanooga Film Festival is back for its 13th year in 2026 with a killer lineup and once again offering audiences both in-person and virtual options. After having its World Premiere at SXSW this spring, the horror comedy anthology Grind is playing CFF 2026 opening weekend.
From a screenplay by Brea Grant (Torn Hearts, 12 Hour Shift) and Ed Dougherty (MLM) and segments directed by Grant, Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust (Satanic Panic), Grind features four interwoven stories that parody the gig economy, hustle culture, and the evils of late-stage capitalism.
The anthology follows weary everyday people juggling side hustles just to survive, while going up against greedy oligarchs, and cleverly uses dark humor and bloody practical effects to portray a world much like our current economic nightmare.
Bloody Disgusting had the pleasure of chatting with Brea Grant and Ed Dougherty about the socioeconomic commentary in Grind, casting Barbara Crampton as a villain, and DIY filmmaking.
Bloody Disgusting: Every segment in this anthology feels relatable because people are actually struggling to survive in the gig economy right now. How did the two of you come up with the idea of creating Grind?
Brea Grant: Like you said, we were trying to come up with a cool idea that seemed relevant right now. The thing that everyone we know is talking about is the economy, the lack of work, and the nightmare hellscape that is late-stage capitalism. It felt like the right time to write something that really featured that as the main horror. As the main thing that people were scared of, this world sort of came to us over the course of a couple of years.
Ed Dougherty: We wanted to make a hit film, and we said, “Let’s make a horror anthology, that’s the most marketable thing there is.” [laughs]
BG: [laughs] Definitely not!
BD: I love anthologies!
ED: We do, too. We feel like it’s kind of an undervalued form of horror film, but it’s a hard sell.
BG: People told us not to make it. They said, “Don’t make an anthology. It’s too hard to sell.” But we did it anyway.
BD: I guess I’m just one of those weirdos who likes anthologies and watches them all.
ED: We believe that there are a lot of weirdos like you out there. It seems like every good horror anthology has a long life, but it’s just getting over the initial hump that’s difficult.
BD: Chelsea Stardust directed some of the segments with the two of you and serves as a producer. How did she first get involved with this project?
BG: The project has a long history. We shot the first segment, which is about multi-level marketing, a couple of years ago. We had decided we wanted to make a full anthology, but it took us about a year after shooting that initial segment to shoot the rest of the movie. When we did that, we knew we needed to bring on a producer aside from Ed and me, since we were directing the bulk of the movie, so that was how she came on board. I’ve been friends with her for a long time, and the one thing I know about her as a friend is that she is very organized, so it felt like a good fit. I just called her one day and said, “Would you want to produce these three segments that we have left to shoot of Grind?” and she came on board.
BD: There are some fun cameos in Grind, but we have to talk about Barbara Crampton. She’s so good as a villainess. Why did you want her for this role, and what was it like working with her on this film?
BG: She’s in her villain era, which is so fun. [laughs] Obviously, we’re huge Barbara Crampton fans, and when we were making MLM, it was a smaller part of the movie that we knew we needed to call on people who could do a good job but were also friendly to us [laughs]. I’m friends with Barbara Crampton, and we’ve done three movies together before this. So, it felt like someone within our reach, but could also really draw a horror crowd. She has a huge fanbase, and she’s also super supportive of all the projects that she’s been in, so that was also really exciting. She’s a great actress, and she’s super funny. I think a lot of these horror actresses, especially those who came up in the eighties and nineties, weren’t given an opportunity to be funny. I think she was ready to jump on an opportunity that was different than what she was used to; it’s not running around and screaming. She is a cult leader, and she is quite funny in it. She just takes the comedy so well and seriously, and she does such an amazing job with it. She has a scene across from Rob Huebel, who is obviously a comedy master, and I feel like the two of them together were hilarious. It’s been fun to watch Barbara go from these iconic roles to a different kind of role at this point in her career. We’re super happy to be a part of that.
ED: And she loves the movie and has been so supportive. Every time she posts about it, I’m like, “I can’t believe this. This is amazing.”
BD: This is an accurate parody of the current socioeconomic situation in this country, as well as our obsession with online culture. It repeatedly asks the question, “What are you willing to do to make money,” in a world with wealth inequality and evil oligarchs. It’s fun, and it’s a horror movie, but it’s thought-provoking. What do you hope audiences take away from Grind, besides having a good time?
ED: I read every review and every Letterboxd review; Brea does not. So, I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen some reviews that say, “Good movie but doesn’t propose a solution.” I think we do propose a solution, which is that the power of unions and organizing is the only way that we will be able to fight back against oligarchs. I do think that is the message of the film. Organizing is the only way to defeat these villains. I do think we have a lot to say in the film. I’d want someone to say, “Man, I’ve never seen a horror anthology that had a political message before.” [laughs]
BG: I think the other thing is that what is currently happening is that we live in a world in which people kind of feel alone in this. They’re like, “Well, I’m doing bad, “or “I’m having trouble paying my rent.” We wanted to hang a lantern on the fact that this is happening to everyone, that wealth disparity is at an all-time high. We’re pointing out to people that you aren’t in this alone; you’re not the only person doing side hustles. Every filmmaker friend I have is working a side job of some sort at this point, and that is just in Los Angeles. Outside of this city, I think things are more dire. I think it was about infusing some politics into something that could make people realize that they aren’t alone and that there are ways of fighting back and fighting the system that has been set up against them.
ED: I think the tone of the movie, which is darkly comedic, also really matches the tone of life right now. Everything seems almost at a parody level as far as the disconnect between oligarchs and trying to make a living and reality. The absurdist nature of the film kind of captures the real tone of life.
BD: There are some cool creature effects and makeup effects in this movie. Can you talk a little bit about the practical effects and makeup?
ED: I think especially because of the message of the film, which is pushing back against the current hellscape we’re in, we wanted to use as many practical effects as possible. We used matte paintings, miniatures, and practical creature effects. I’m always afraid of the matte painting because we used the old school matte painter, but they do look a little AI. I heard someone make a noise behind me during one of the shots, and I was like, “I hope that noise wasn’t them using AI because that’s a matte painting.” [laughs] There’s also the fact that it’s pretty DIY. It’s a film that we financed ourselves and shot in our houses as much as possible. We wanted the whole thing to feel handmade and very tactile.
BG: We’re old school horror fans, so we love seeing practical effects. The practical stuff is really fun for us. It’s the stuff that we think is actually cool. [laughs] So, practical stuff made the most sense for us. We both grew up in the punk scene in the nineties, and I think it just kind of comes naturally to us to try to do things ourselves. And we both work on projects for big companies, with smaller companies, but always for other people, so trying to do something ourselves to see what that felt like was also part of the experiment of Grind.
ED: This was our chance to do everything we wanted our way.
Grind screens at the Chattanooga Film Festival on June 20.
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