Spinal Tap 2 is finally happening, with the original movie's stars and director all returning. Rob Reiner was the mastermind behind the camera of 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about a truly pretentious fake English rock band. Besides being a hilarious look behind-the-scenes at the rock star life, the movie's form also proved highly influential, setting the template for the whole mockumentary sub-genre.
Reiner of course would go on to have a huge career as a Hollywood director with non-mockumentary films like Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery and A Few Good Men. Spinal Tap star Chrisopher Guest meanwhile would pick up on the movie’s fake-documentary premise with his own later directorial efforts, making the form his own through movies like Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind. And the band Spinal Tap itself lived on through various projects, including a pair of actual albums, a two-hour made-for-TV special called The Return of Spinal Tap and perhaps most famously a 1992 appearance on The Simpsons.
Now after all this time Spinal Tap is finally ready for a full-on reunion via an official big screen This Is Spinal Tap sequel. As reported by Deadline, Spinal Tap II will feature the return of Reiner both behind the camera and on-screen as his documentary filmmaker character Marty DeBergi. The original Spinal Tap line-up will also be back: Guest as guitarist Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean as singer David St. Hubbins and Harry Shearer as bassist Derek Smalls. There is no word yet on who will play Spinal Tap’s new drummer but no doubt they will be in for a short stint that ends in a bizarre and deadly way. Speaking to Deadline, Reiner gave some details about the story that has been cooked up for Spinal Tap II:
“They’ve played Albert Hall, played Wembley Stadium, all over the country and in Europe. They haven’t spent any time together recently, and that became the premise. The idea was that Ian Faith, who was their manager, he passed away. In reality, [Ian Faith actor] 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.”
Given that it’s been nearly four decades since This Is Spinal Tap hit theaters, it’s fair to wonder why now is the time for a sequel. In the same chat with Deadline, Reiner said going ahead with a follow-up was all about finding the right story, explaining “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.” Reiner also gave some information about his own character Marty DeBergi, saying that in the new story the filmmaker is on the outs with Spinal Tap, who accuse him of doing a “hatchet job” on them in the first movie. But with the band getting back together, he drops everything to document their farewell concert. Reiner also told Deadline he hopes Spinal Tap II will feature some guest spots by real musicians who’ve confessed to being Spinal Tap fans over the years.
Obviously it is a shock to learn out of the blue that Spinal Tap is finally reuniting for a proper This Is Spinal Tap sequel. From Reiner’s remarks it seems that he and the three original Spinal Tap band members, who are also involved in conceiving the sequel, have come up with a solid idea that should make for some great comedy. Spinal Tap clearly are not the young lads they used to be, but of course in real life there are plenty of aging bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden out there still rocking, and a movie satirizing the lucrative nostalgia circuit could indeed be hilarious. Spinal Tap 2 does not yet have a release date.
Source: Deadline