“Nigel, David and Derek haven’t seen the film,” Rob Reiner said Thursday before unveiling the first trailer for his mockumentary sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues during Collider’s Directors on Director panel at Comic-Con.
Spinal Tap II has Christopher Guest (Nigel Tufnel), Michael McKean (David St. Hubbins) and Harry Shearer (Derek Smalls) back as legendary heavy metal band Spinal Tap. The film follows England’s loudest and most punctual band as they reunite after a 15-year hiatus for one final concert. Also featured in the sequel will be be cameos from Elton John, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, as well as appearances from Paul Shaffer, Fran Drescher, Don Lake, John Michael Higgins, Nina Conti, Griffin Matthews, Kerry Godliman and Chris Addison.
Reiner said the sequel came together after Shearer got the rights back. “They hadn’t played for 15 years. There’s some bad blood, what is it that forces them to be together again,” said Reiner about the jumping-off point for part 2.
How does the group’s reunion concert come back together at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans? As Smalls reveals in the trailer, “There was a cancellation…An Evening With Stormy Daniels.” We’ve seen where old age has taken them, i.e., Derek is doing crypto commercials, Nigel performs with a pub band (hard rock that is). The group is still grappling with losing 11 drummers.
In the trailer we also catch some of the big rock legends, i.e. McCartney and Elton John. “I was surprised at how good Paul McCartney was at improv,” Reiner said about the Beatles alum’s appearance in the sequel.
Watch it above.
Bleecker Street has set a September 2 release for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.
Spinal Tap II is produced by Reiner, Michele Reiner and Matthew George and financed under the Castle Rock Entertainment banner. Derrick J. Rossi PhD, Hernan Narea, Jonathan Fuhrman and Christopher H. Warner executive produced the film.
The recent 41st anniversary rerelease of This Is Spinal Tap grossed $1 million for a total lifetime cume of $5.8M. Don’t let that box office fool you, as the 1984 Embassy Pictures release was cash cow in the video era.
