This Is Spinal Tap, the legendary 1984 "mockumentary" that launched a thousand rock and roll quotes, is finally set to begin production on a sequel in February 2024.
David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls & Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap, circa 1984
Director Rob Reiner, who made his feature directorial debut with the 1984 film and starred in it as faux filmmaker Marty Di Bergi, had previously announced in 2022 that a sequel was planned for the 40th anniversary of the oft-quoted film. Delays by the writers' and actors' strike earlier this year have set the production back, but Reiner took to the RHLSTP with Richard Herring podcast to unveil the real-life musical guest stars.
"We're making a sequel," Reiner said. "We're gonna start shooting at the end of February. Everybody’s back. Paul McCartney is joining us, and Elton John. And a few other surprises... Garth Brooks."
It's hard to determine how these "guests" will fit in, however, Reiner had relayed to Deadline back in 2022, "The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film and I can tell you hardly a day goes by without someone saying, why don’t you do another one? 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."
Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner, 2019
This Is Spinal Tap, conceived and written by Reiner, Christopher Guest ("Nigel Tufnel"), Michael McKean ("David St. Hubbins") and Harry Shearer ("Derek Smalls"), was filmed in only five weeks, using handheld 16mm cameras. Largely improvised by the entire cast, the original released to only moderate commercial success. Despite the brilliant comedic hi-jinks portrayed and utterly quotable dialogue ("These go to eleven," "You can't really dust for vomit," "Hello Cleveland!") it only gathered steam from the VHS release and was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, which selected it for preservation in 2002.
This is Spinal Tap (1984) Trailer #1 | Movieclips Classic Trailers
While the premise of the sequel (which apparently will supersede 1992's The Return of Spinal Tap, which consisted mostly of footage from a real Spinal Tap concert at the Royal Albert Hall), Reiner has alluded to a storyline, akin to Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz: "I'm back playing Marty DiBergi," he said. "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 II was initially slated for a March 19, 2024 release but as noted, the writers' and actors' strikes caused delays throughout the industry and an updated release date has yet to be announced.
