Rock and roll is back as Rob Reiner gives fans an amazing update on the long awaited sequel to his cult-classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. The original film, released in 1984, follows fake documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Reiner) as he produces a tour film for his favorite British heavy metal band, Spinal Tap. Marty joins the band on their American comeback tour, showing the highs and lows across the band’s shaky gigs.
Rob Reiner recently spoke to Deadline about the long-awaited sequel. Reiner was among this year’s Emmy nominees for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for his new doc Albert Brooks: Defending My Life – exploring the life and work of comedian Albert Brooks. Reiner joked that his long road to creating an Emmy nominated documentary started with his fake one back in the 1980s, saying:
“It’s a total surprise. Especially because I’ve never made a real documentary. The only one I made was a fake one – Spinal Tap. It’s so funny to get recognized in this way.”
Release Date May 4, 1984
Cast Rob Reiner , Kimberly Stringer , Chazz Dominguez , Shari Hall , R.J. Parnell , David Kaff
Runtime 82
Production is currently underway on the untitled Spinal Tap sequel. Few concrete details about the project have been released. But, Reiner did give fans an update about when they can expect to see Spinal Tap make their second comeback tour. Reiner said:
“It’s going good. Our first screening for our family and friends will be probably in August. And then sometime in September we’ll start showing it to distributors, and we’re hoping to have it out sometime late spring or early summer of next year.”
Spinal Tap 2 Will Feature Some Special Guests
The iconic band members of Spinal Tap won’t be alone in the new sequel. Joining David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) for the band’s eagerly-anticipated return will be some incredible musical guests, who will likely reflect on Spinal Tap’s rocky ‘legacy’ as a band. Reiner teased some of the guests during the interview, saying:
“We got everybody together, and we added a couple of surprise guests. We have Paul McCarthy and Elton John and Garth Brooks. It’s fun.”
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While details are scarce, some loose plot details about Spinal Tap II have been revealed. The new movie will reportedly focus on the band re-uniting for one more, contractually obligated show. Documenting the re-union will be DiBergi, whom the band aren’t happy with for how he depicted them in the original movie. Speaking to TotalFilm (via MetalHammer), Reiner revealed that he had been approached about making a Spinal Tap sequel for decades, but none of the ideas were very good. The director said:
“We’d always say, ‘No, no’. Then we had an idea, and we said, ‘Well, maybe we could do it…’”
The director has already begun blurring the lines between his real-life directorial duties, and his on-screen persona as fake filmmaker Marty DiBergi. Looking back at the original film, Reiner joked:
“Nobody told us to do anything [on the first film]. And that’s the thing that I’m worried about this next one. We hired this Marty DiBergi to come back and do this movie – he could cock it up!”
This Is Spinal Tap II
is expected to be released in early 2025.
This Is Spinal Tap
can be streamed on Apple TV+.
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