Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Open Up About Dealing with Fame After Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Brandon Stanciell

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter say they had a blast making the 1989 comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and never expected the faithful fan based that soon followed.

"I've been chased down the street by an entire frat house," says Winter, 55. "But the Bill and Ted notoriety comes coupled with so much joy from people when they recognize you. They're always happy."

The two actors became lifelong friends making the film about two high school slackers who stumbled onto a time-traveling phone booth and used it to ace their history report. They've teamed up once again for the third installment Bill & Ted Face the Music (on demand and in theaters on Aug. 28). This time around, Bill and Ted are middle-aged dads struggling with their marriages and careers.

"It was really fun doing Bill and Ted in couples therapy," says Reeves, 56, with a laugh.

Patti Perret/Orion Pictures

For more on Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.

Reeves, who had starred in River's Edge before taking on the role of Theodore "Ted" Logan, says being recognized for playing the lovable character was a lot of fun.

"I had been recognized for some things before," says Reeves. "But now people were calling out to me, 'Yo, dude. Be excellent. Party on!'"

Winter adds that over the past 30 years, there have been plenty of times when fans have become overly excited when seeing Reeves and Winter hanging out together.

"People will flip out and chase us down the street playing air guitar," says Winter. "But in general the thing that I find so nice now, all these years later, is the little kids that are into the movies. They've been turned on to the films by their parents or seen them on TV, and the joyful connection they have to the characters is pretty awesome"