The cast of the upcoming sequel to beloved rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap continues to grow. In fact, it has grown so large that, were you to attempt to represent the size of the cast on the volume knob of a guitar amplifier, you might say that it goes to...one notch beyond what you would expect to be the final and loudest notch.
In addition to previously confirmed cameos from the likes of Paul McCartney, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and Questlove, Deadline reported on March 26 that Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith will also make appearances in the film. (Considering Spinal Tap's history with drummers, one can only assume their characters will happily survive the film and go on to make return appearances in future installments.) But equally as exciting for fans of the 1984 original, Fran Drescher and Paul Shaffer will also join the cast, reprising their roles as long-suffering publicist Bobbi Flekman and hapless promotions man Artie Fufkin, respectively.
Drescher was only moderately known when she appeared in This Is Spinal Tap, and went on to considerable success as the star and co-creator of sitcom The Nanny. She was recently elected president of SAG-AFTRA, and became something of a folk hero in the acting community when she served as the guild's no-nonsense leader during its several-month strike in 2023.
Other names added to the cast list (who did not appear in the original) include Don Lake, Kerry Godliman, John Michael Higgins, Jason Acuña, Brad Williams, Nina Conti, Griffin Matthews and Chris Addison.
Fran Drescher lead SAG-AFTRA during the actors guild's 2023 strike.
The sequel has reportedly already begun filming, featuring all three principal stars -- Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean -- with Rob Reiner returning as both director and to his role in the film as documentarian Marty DiBergi.
In a statement announcing the start of production, Reiner said: “I recently spoke to Marty DiBergi 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 and Roll.”
Rob Reiner will direct the film and reprise his role as Marty DiBergi.
"The plan is to do a sequel that comes out on the 40th anniversary of the original film," Reiner told Deadline in 2022. "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."
The premise for the new film, which was jointly conceived by Reiner, Guest, McKean, and Shearer, involves the members of Spinal Tap reuniting following a 15-year hiatus for one final concert.
The 'Spinal Tap' sequel is scheduled to arrive 40 years after the original.
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Largely improvised by the entire cast, the original This Is Spinal Tap was released to only moderate commercial success in 1984. Yet it developed an intense cult following on home video, and was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, which selected it for preservation in 2002.
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