Director Rob Reiner stopped by The Hollywood Reporter‘s suite at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend and talked about the legacy of the iconic mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” and dished on where the film’s upcoming sequel, “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues”, picks up after 40 years later.
Regarding what makes the original “This Is Spinal Tap” movie so timeless, Reiner said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know. I mean, what’s weird is that when it first came out, nobody got it. They thought I made a movie about a real band that wasn’t very good. And why wouldn’t I make a movie about THE BEATLES or THE ROLLING STONES? It took a while before people really caught on to it and understood that we were making fun, we were having fun with it. And then over the years it kind of…”
He continued: “We had created like a parallel universe for SPINAL TAP; we didn’t talk about other bands. But then, all of a sudden, the real world started creeping in. They played Glastonbury, they played Royal Albert Hall and Wembley Stadium. And every rock band we talked to, they all said, ‘Oh my God. It’s just like what we do on tour.’ They keep the tape on the tour bus. They watch it over and over. Sting saw it and he said, ‘Every time I see it, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.’ So somehow we’ve seeped into the culture. The Oxford English dictionary now has ‘this goes to 11’ as a thing that’s not just about loud music, but about anything in excess. And we’re part of the Library Of Congress and the National Film Registry. So here we are. I mean, we never thought in a million years it was gonna happen like this.”
Regarding the plot for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues”, Reiner, who directed the original movie and costarred as the fictional documentarian Martin “Marty” DiBergi and also returned for the sequel, said: “Well, what happens is we find out that they… And this we took from real life, which is the guys had not played with each other in 15 years. So we said, ‘Okay, what would cause them to get back together again?’ We created this whole idea that there’s bad blood, they’re not speaking to each other, what’s going on, and you find that out in the course of the film, but they now are forced together because of a contract. That was the last performance they had to give. It was a contract when their manager, Ian Faith, died, which is the real guy [who played Ian], [actor] Tony Hendra died. And the daughter takes it over and says, ‘Well, what am I gonna do with this contract? It’s worthless. They don’t play together.’ Then there’s a big music star screwing around at a soundcheck. He sings ‘Big Bottom’. It’s caught on an iPhone, they throw it up on TikTok and it goes viral. And then, ‘Okay, now we’ll play.’ And they go to New Orleans and play their last concert. But if you notice, it says ‘The End Continues’ [in the title of the movie]. These people never stop. They never stop.”
Bleecker Street has set a September 12 theatrical release date for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues”, which reunites Reiner with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as they reprise their iconic roles as the legendary heavy metal band SPINAL TAP in this long-awaited sequel. The indie studio, founded by Andrew Karpen in 2014, also landed the rights for the original “This Is Spinal Tap”, which has been newly restored and was re-released in theaters this summer. That new version has also hit digital and streaming platforms, making it the first time the film has been available digitally in years.
Reiner returned to direct and write, and original stars/writers Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are reprising their roles as Nigel Tufnel, David St Hubbins and Derek Smalls, respectively. Reiner also returns as DiBergi.
In the sequel, the fictional heavy metal group reunites after a 15-year hiatus for one final concert in New Orleans that SPINAL TAP was booked for after Stormy Daniels canceled. Music legends Elton John and Paul McCartney make cameos.
The “Spinal Tap” sequel also sees the return of Fran Drescher, who is reprising her role as the band’s publicist, Bobbi Flekman, from the original 1984 movie. The film also features newcomers John Michael Higgins, Jason Acuña, Don Lake, Nina Conti, Griffin Matthews, Kerry Godliman, Chris Addison, Brad Williams and musician Paul Shaffer.
In 2022, Reiner told Deadline about the decision to release a new “Spinal Tap” movie: “For so many years, we said, ‘nah.’ It wasn’t until we came up with the right idea how to do this. You don’t want to just do it, to do it. You want to honor the first one and push it a little further with the story.”
As for the new movie’s premise, Reiner said: “They’ve played Albert Hall, played Wembley Stadium, all over the country and in Europe. They haven’t spent any time together recently. The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away. In reality, Tony Hendra passed away. Ian‘s widow inherited a contract that said SPINAL TAP owed them one more concert. She was basically going to sue them if they didn’t. All these years and a lot of bad blood we’ll get into and they’re thrown back together and forced to deal with each other and play this concert.”
Regarding his role in the upcoming film, Reiner said: “I’m back playing Marty DiBergi. The band was upset with the first film. They thought I did a hatchet job and this is a chance to redeem myself. I am such a big fan and I felt bad they didn’t like what they saw in the first film. When I heard they might get back together, I was a visiting adjunct teacher’s helper at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts. I drop everything to document this final concert.”
“This Is Spinal Tap” has become a cult classic since its first theatrical run 41 years ago. The film was produced independently on a shoestring budget of $2.25 million by a company owned by the four creators, Reiner, Guest, McKean and Shearer. Two years in production, the film was released in 1984. It soon became a cult favorite and spawned a genre that has come to be known as “mockumentary,” inspiring many subsequent filmmakers. Phrases from the film’s script have entered the general lexicon, including “none more black” and “it goes to 11,” the latter phrase exemplified by the Tesla car, whose audio system’s volume control goes to 11, as does that on the BBC‘s iPlayer.
Its reputation as one of the 20th Century’s most enduring comedies has increased exponentially in the ensuing years. The film has garnered international praise and acclaim, having been included in “best ever” lists such as The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made; Total Film‘s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time list; Entertainment Weekly‘s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time where it appeared on the “Just Too Beloved to Ignore” list; and achieving the coveted No. 1 spot on Time Out London‘s 100 Best Comedy Movies list.
In 2002, the film’s lasting appeal led the U.S. Library of Congress (the world’s largest cultural collection),to designate it as a culturally, historically or aesthetically significant film.
Although “This Is Spinal Tap” was first released in 1984 in the U.S. and U.K., the band SPINAL TAP was actually created in the late 1970s. The band’s rock musician characters “Nigel Tufnel” and “David St. Hubbins” were created by Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, with Harry Shearer creating bassist “Derek Smalls.” SPINAL TAP‘s comedic sole claim to fame was as “one of England’s loudest bands.” Performing as their beloved stage personae in the company of a rotating cast of percussionists willing to risk the kit (as so many of their predecessors have been accident prone),SPINAL TAP has toured the world multiple times since the film’s release. Hundreds of thousands of SPINAL TAP sound recordings have been sold over the ensuing decades and the film has been released on scores of video formats through the years.
In 2019, the band’s creators concluded a new agreement with Universal Music Group. The band’s recording of a full-length SPINAL TAP album featuring songs from the film is still available for physical sale, download and streaming today from UMG.
“This Is Spinal Tap” was released to little fanfare with some viewers convinced the bumbling dinosaurs — who had a knack of losing drummers in freak accidents — on screen were a genuine band. But word of mouth about the smartly observed film, which took a pop at bands such as STATUS QUO, LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH, spread and it became a sleeper hit.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, McKean, Guest and Shearer prepared several scenes with Reiner but then ad-libbed. At the end of filming, they had more than 40 hours of footage, which was edited down to a more manageable form.
When “This Is Spinal Tap” was released, not everybody got that it was a “mockumentary.” U2‘s The Edge immediately embraced it, saying: “I didn’t laugh, I wept. It was so close to the truth.” Ozzy Osbourne didn’t understand it, saying the first time he watched it, he thought it was a real documentary. Early home video versions of the movie reportedly even had a disclaimer at the start and finish of the movie stating the band didn’t really exist.
