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Never-seen-before audition tapes from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

These never-seen-before audition tapes from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure reveal a young Keanu Reeves goofing around with his competition for the role in the classic comedy.

The grainy tapes from 1986, which have never been seen before by the public, show Reeves joking and roughhousing with Alex Winter, who would eventually be cast as his costar Bill S. Preston Esq.

Winter and Reeves' competition included Gary Riley (Stand By Me), Pauly Shore (Bio-Dome) and Matt Adler (Teen Wolf) but much of the chemistry and laughter came about when Reeves and Winter were in the same scenes.

"There were lots of people auditioning," said a source who was on the set and requested anonymity.

"Keanu, from the beginning it was clear that this guy was head and shoulders above the rest.

"We always knew Keanu would be Ted Theodore Logan.

"Then Alex and Keanu kind of picked each other, they found each other in the big waiting room on day one and they started hanging out together, taking lunch together and they became buddies.

"They were an absolute joy to work with, it was a huge amount of fun making the picture. We had an excellent time.

"Keanu was the leader and Alex followed, they ad libbed a lot and really vibed together."

The hilarious, 34-year-old footage includes the first time Reeves and Winter enthusiastically strummed their air guitars in unison, which would become a signature feature of the movie and its 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

The metalhead slacker friends have now reunited for the third installment of the time-travel comedy franchise in Bill & Ted Face the Music, which will hit theaters and streaming platforms on September 1.

In the new movie the now middle-aged William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. and Theodore "Ted" Logan embark on a quest to write a song to bring harmony in the universe and preserve life as they know it.

"If Keanu and Alex had not found each other we might have cast Gary Riley but I don't think Bill & Ted would have turned into what it did, and I don't think we'd be about to see a third movie," said the source.

"Without Keanu and Alex you might not have heard of Bill or Ted."