‘This Is Spinal Tap’ Sequel Begins Production

Get ready for a sequel that will go up to … 12?! The team behind the brilliant 1984 music mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap has officially begun work on another film. Filmmaker Rob Reiner will once again direct and portray documentarian Marty DiBergi as he checks in with the three members of Spinal Tap — David St. Hubbins (actor Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) — to see how the past four decades have treated the heavy-metal stereotypes. They have not yet announced who’ll be playing the drummer, at least not since Mark Shrimpton exploded.

The film, which has begun filming in New Orleans, will center around the band reuniting for one final concert. It will feature cameo appearances from Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood.

“I recently spoke to Marty DiBergi,” Reiner said in a statement, “who said that he was more than happy to take a sabbatical from his position as a visiting Professor’s Assistant at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts to once again document Spinal Tap to ensure their place in the pantheon of rock & roll.”

In 2022, Reiner made a statement that revealed a little more about the plot: “When it was announced that Spinal Tap would reunite for one final concert, Marty DeBergi saw this as a chance to make things right with the band who viewed This is Spinal Tap as a hatchet job.” He’s also described his vision of the final concert as being similar to The Last Waltz.

The original movie became an instant classic when it hit theaters, partially because the irony of it all felt so real. “The closer we dared to get to the real thing, the closer the real thing dared to get to us,” Shearer told Rolling Stone in 1984. “It’s like reality is calling our bluff at every stop along the way.” The movie subsequently inspired several trends, including Metallica’s all-black cover and actual amplifiers that “go to 11” in the years that followed.

In the years since the original film came out, the “band” has reunited several times. In 1992, they released an album, Break Like the Wind, which made it up to Number 62 on the very real Billboard 200, and their 2009 album, Back From the Dead, made it up to 52. In 2018, Shearer released a Derek Smalls solo album, Smalls Change. In a Rolling Stone interview that year, “Smalls” refuted the sexism of Spinal Tap’s “Bitch School.” ‘Bitch School’ was about dog training,” he claimed. “Only the dirty minds at MTV could get that wrong.”

Get ready for a sequel that will go up to … 12?! The team behind the brilliant 1984 music mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap has officially begun work on another film. Filmmaker Rob Reiner will once again direct and portray documentarian Marty DiBergi as he checks in with the three members of Spinal Tap — David St. Hubbins (actor Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) — to see how the past four decades have treated the heavy-metal stereotypes. They have not yet announced who’ll be playing the drummer, at least not since Mark Shrimpton exploded.

The film, which has begun filming in New Orleans, will center around the band reuniting for one final concert. It will feature cameo appearances from Elton John, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Garth Brooks, and Trisha Yearwood.

“I recently spoke to Marty DiBergi,” Reiner said in a statement, “who said that he was more than happy to take a sabbatical from his position as a visiting Professor’s Assistant at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts to once again document Spinal Tap to ensure their place in the pantheon of rock & roll.”

In 2022, Reiner made a statement that revealed a little more about the plot: “When it was announced that Spinal Tap would reunite for one final concert, Marty DeBergi saw this as a chance to make things right with the band who viewed This is Spinal Tap as a hatchet job.” He’s also described his vision of the final concert as being similar to The Last Waltz.

The original movie became an instant classic when it hit theaters, partially because the irony of it all felt so real. “The closer we dared to get to the real thing, the closer the real thing dared to get to us,” Shearer told Rolling Stone in 1984. “It’s like reality is calling our bluff at every stop along the way.” The movie subsequently inspired several trends, including Metallica’s all-black cover and actual amplifiers that “go to 11” in the years that followed.

In the years since the original film came out, the “band” has reunited several times. In 1992, they released an album, Break Like the Wind, which made it up to Number 62 on the very real Billboard 200, and their 2009 album, Back From the Dead, made it up to 52. In 2018, Shearer released a Derek Smalls solo album, Smalls Change. In a Rolling Stone interview that year, “Smalls” refuted the sexism of Spinal Tap’s “Bitch School.” ‘Bitch School’ was about dog training,” he claimed. “Only the dirty minds at MTV could get that wrong.”