This Is Spinal Tap

Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer tried a screenplay first, found the film they wanted would not fit on the page, and shot a short demo reel instead, then took that to studios. The actors got outlines saying where a scene would start and stop and who the character was; the rest of the dialogue was improvised, and first takes were used wherever possible to keep reactions fresh. The band is English, but the picture was shot in and around Los Angeles, on handheld 16 mm cameras, over about five weeks. The visit to Elvis Presley’s grave was staged in an Altadena park with a mock up of the headstone, and the band sings Heartbreak Hotel because it was the only Elvis song producer Karen Murphy could clear. Jeanine was added during production, to give the material a storyline and settle studio executives who worried the film would have no plot. June Chadwick took it. The shoot produced more than 100 hours of footage, and editing ran over nine months. A good fit if you want the jokes to come out of improvisation, out of what one actor does with another’s reaction. Not for anyone waiting for the story to build toward something; the plot was fitted on afterwards, through a character from outside.