After being in the business for almost 60 years, it appears Rob Reiner shows no sign of slowing down. Last year saw him debut his first ever documentary (at least his first real documentary), “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life,” and he’s currently finishing up production in New Orleans on a “This Is Spinal Tap” sequel. In a recent interview with Deadline, Reiner discussed his shock over the documentary’s Emmy nominations, as well as the status of the follow-up to his feature directorial debut and cult classic.
“It’s a total surprise,” Reiner said of receiving Emmy nominations for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, as well as his direction of the film. “Especially because I’ve never made a real documentary. The only one I made was a fake one — ‘Spinal Tap.’ It’s so funny to get recognized in this way.”
For Reiner, making a film that celebrates one of his oldest friends and a comedic icon in front of and behind the camera felt like a natural extension of their relationship, almost as if he would’ve done it just for the two of them. However, seeing it play for others made him realize how special it truly was.
“We saw [‘Albert Brooks: Defending My Life’] with an audience at the Academy and I was surprised at how well it played,” he said to Deadline. “It played like a movie. There were a lot of laughs and people were really having a great time. So to me, it’s a surprise that I’d ever be thought of as a documentary filmmaker. It’s just a weird thing.”
Despite feeling odd over being labeled a documentary filmmaker, it is in a way, how he started his directorial career. His first film, “This Is Spinal Tap” is a mockumentary — one of the first of its kind — that covers the career of a fake heavy metal band (Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer). Ironically enough, Reiner performs in the film as the documentarian following the band on tour. “Spinal Tap” celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, while at the same time, production began on a sequel featuring the original cast.
“It’s going good,” Reiner said of production in New Orleans. “Our first screening for our family and friends will be probably in August and then sometime in September we’ll start showing it to distributors, and we’re hoping to have it out sometime late spring or early summer of next year.”
Famously, upon release, many viewers believed the original film was an actual documentary covering a real band. To play this joke up in the sequel, Reiner told Deadline he’s expanded the cast a bit to include real icons.
“We got everybody together and we added a couple of surprise guests,” he said. “We have Paul McCartney and Elton John and Garth Brooks. It’s fun.”
