Spinal Tap’ sequel? The news amps up to 11

CANNES, France (AP) — One of the most memorable lines — and Rob Reiner’s personal favorite — of “This Is

Spinal Tap” goes: “There’s a fine line between stupid and clever.”

You could say the same thing about the classic 1984 mockumentary. It could have so easily

not panned out. No one in Hollywood thought it was a good

idea. It was saved by Norman Lear who, after Reiner made

his pitch and departed, is said to have turned to the executives in the room and announced: “Who’s going to tell him he can’t do it?”

Now, Reiner and company want to get the band back together for a sequel. Reiner was

at the Cannes Film Festival this week for an anniversary

screening on the beach of “This Is Spinal Tap” and to drum up

excitement for the just-announced sequel that will also see Michael Mckean, Harry

Shearer, and Christopher Guest reprise their roles as band members David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel.

“The bar is high. There’s no question about it,” Reiner said

in an interview by the beach. “And we wrestled with that forever, whether or not we should even bother to do it. But we had an idea. Over the years, people have come up and said, ‘Oh, you should do a sequel.’ We’ve always said, ‘No, no, no.’ But as time went by, we finally

had something we think can work. And we’ll find out!”

The 1984 movie had no script, just a four-page outline. It was almost entirely improvised. Reiner’s first cut of the film was seven hours long. Even the

jokes they did have planned — like the infamous “these amps goes to 11” scene — were filmed off-the-cuff.

“Quick!” Reiner recalls shouting. “Make an amp with an extra number on it!”

But what teetered so close to never panning out in the first place, has of course become one of the most beloved comedies of the ‘80s and a massive influence to countless mockumentaries that have followed. It is even in the Library of Congress.

Reiner assures that this time, too, there will be no screenplay. He will depend on the still

sharp improvisational talents of his cast, who have carried on

Spinal Tap — a fictional band turned into a semi-real one — in occasional concerts in the intervening decades. Reiner’s character, the director Marti Debergi (styled after Martin

Scorsese in The Band concert documentary “The Last Waltz”), will naturally return.

“Here we are 40 years later and Marti Debergi — who has not been the greatest filmmaker, let’s put it that way. The man made ‘Kramer vs. Kramer vs. Godzilla.’ And I think he

did ‘Attack of the 52-Foot Woman,’” says Reiner. “Because he said there’s going to

be this reunion, we wanted to make this film, and we’ve given him free reign.”