Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner at the premiere of 'Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.' Kevin Winter/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Fourty one years after This Is Spinal Tap, the band is back together. The parody rock band made up of Christopher Guest's Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean's David St. Hubbins and Harry Shearer's Derek Smalls has reunited for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which sees Rob Reiner's Marty DiBergi directing a new documentary about the band's final show. Reiner, who also serves as the film's actual director, said he's been asked for years to do a sequel, as "initially no one understood the film but over the years it grew." But for many years doing a follow-up wasn't an option as the foursome didn't have control of the project's rights - until Shearer filed a suit in 2016 to try to regain the rights "because we never made any money," Reiner explained. "After all of those years with DVD and video and foreign sales and Blu-ray, nothing. So once we got the rights back we said, 'Do we really want to do this?'" Related Stories TV Jussie Smollett on Heading to Reality TV With 'Special Forces' and What He Plans to Do Next Movies 'Spinal Tap' Director Rob Reiner on Controversial Sabrina Carpenter Album Cover: "It's Life Imitating Art" "At first we said no, but then we came up with an idea that came out of something very real, which is the three guys had not played in 15 years. So we thought wait a minute, why? Are they angry with each other, is there bad blood, are they not talking to each other? That became the basis of the film," he continued. "And we wanted to make sure that the film could stand on its own, that if you didn't see the first one, this still works on its own." Shearer admitted that after the comedy "achieved kind of this weird cult status," he had "pretty serious doubts about touching something that had this great reputation and maybe tarnishing it. So I had to get over those doubts - but a couple of days of hard drinking and I was fine." He also recalled that when they were first trying to get This Is Spinal Tap made, "we went to all of the major studios and they looked at the demo we made and you've never seen more bewildered faces in your life. We kept saying that this is a story that's known to everybody; Rolling Stone has told this story over and over again, we're just telling a funnier version of it and people will get it. And we almost didn't get to make it." Thankfully they did, coining expressions like "up to 11" - "I don't think a day goes by where I don't hear that phrase," Reiner said - and launching the mockumentary genre. The sequel features cameos from Paul McCartney, Elton John and Garth Brooks, all of whom jumped at the chance to play, and improvise, alongside Spinal Tap. "Every musician that I ever encountered said, 'I have a Spinal Tap moment' and they'll tell me about what they did," Reiner noted. "When I first met Sting, this was years ago, he said 'I've seen the film over and over - every time I look at it I don't know whether to laugh or cry.' So it cuts both ways, people love it and they're also like, 'Oh that's close to the bone.'" Spinal Tap II: The End Continues hits theaters on Friday. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up Obituaries David Weitzner, Marketing Exec on 'Star Wars,' 'E.T.' and 'This Is Spinal Tap,' Dies at 86 Heat Vision Henry Cavill Injury Pushes 'Highlander' Shoot to 2026 Oldenburg Film Festival Guillaume Campanacci Gets Thrifty With Oldenburg's 'The Silent Sinner': "It Was Made for Literally Nothing" Oldenburg Film Festival John Connors' Oldenburg-Bound 'Crazy Love' Keeps Up a Fantastic Run of Form for Irish Cinema: "We Hit Above Our Weight" Oldenburg International Film Festival 'Keep Quiet' Review: A Stellar Lou Diamond Phillips Helps Police Procedural Transcend Genre Clichés Toronto International Film Festival Paul Shaffer to Get Feature Doc Treatment (Exclusive) Obituaries David Weitzner, Marketing Exec on 'Star Wars,' 'E.T.' and 'This Is Spinal Tap,' Dies at 86 Heat Vision Henry Cavill Injury Pushes 'Highlander' Shoot to 2026 Oldenburg Film Festival Guillaume Campanacci Gets Thrifty With Oldenburg's 'The Silent Sinner': "It Was Made for Literally Nothing" Oldenburg Film Festival John Connors' Oldenburg-Bound 'Crazy Love' Keeps Up a Fantastic Run of Form for Irish Cinema: "We Hit Above Our Weight" Oldenburg International Film Festival 'Keep Quiet' Review: A Stellar Lou Diamond Phillips Helps Police Procedural Transcend Genre Clichés Toronto International Film Festival Paul Shaffer to Get Feature Doc Treatment (Exclusive)