   this is spinal tapofficially stylized this is , with a non-functional heavy metal umlaut over the letter n&mdash;n-diaeresis&mdash;and a dotless letter i. is an american 1984 rock music mockumentary written, scored by, and starring rob reiner, christopher guest, michael mckean and harry shearer. the film portrays the fictional british heavy metal band spinal tap. directed by reiner, the movie satirizes the wild personal behavior and musical pretensions of hard rock and heavy metal bands, as well as the hagiographic tendencies of rock documentaries of the time. reiner and the three main actors are credited as the writers of the movie because much of the dialogue was ad libbed by them. several dozen hours of footage were filmed before reiner edited it to the released movie. a 4Â½ hour bootleg version of the movie exists and has been traded among fans and collectors for years. the three main members of spinal tapâdavid st. hubbins, derek smalls and nigel tufnelâare played by actors mckean, shearer, and guest, respectively. the three actors play their musical instruments and speak with mock english accents throughout the movie. reiner appears as marty di bergi, the maker of the documentary. other actors in the movie are tony hendra as group manager ian faith, and june chadwick as st. hubbins' interfering girlfriend 
1980s_comedy_films 1984_films American_comedy_films American_independent_films American_parody_films American_rock_music_films American_satirical_films Directorial_debut_films English-language_films Films_about_music_and_musicians Films_directed_by_Rob_Reiner Films_set_in_1982 Films_set_in_Atlanta,_Georgia Films_set_in_California Films_set_in_Chicago,_Illinois Films_set_in_Cleveland,_Ohio Films_set_in_Los_Angeles,_California Films_set_in_New_York_City Films_set_in_North_Carolina Films_set_in_Seattle,_Washington Films_set_in_Tennessee Films_set_in_Tokyo Films_shot_in_Los_Angeles,_California Heavy_metal_films Mockumentary_films Screenplays_by_Christopher_Guest Screenplays_by_Harry_Shearer Screenplays_by_Michael_McKean Spinal_Tap_(band) United_States_National_Film_Registry_films