Spinal Tap sues Vivendi for fraud, demands money

SPINAL Tap is regrouping to demand that Vivendi, the distributor of the 1984 cult fi lm, give them some money.

Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Rob Reiner — who played singer Nigel Tufnel, lead guitarist David St. Hubbins and director Marty Di Bergi in “This is Spinal Tap” — joined bass player Harry Shearer’s lawsuit against Vivendi. The revised complaint demands US$ 400 million in damages for “anticompetitive and unfair business practices, as well as fraudulent accounting,” the men said on Wednesday in a statement.

The faux documentary followed the starcrossed and musically challenged band on a North American tour, and helped usher in a genre satirising serious fi lms. It popularised lines such as “This goes to 11,” and introduced songs such as “Gimme Some Money” and “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight.” It was added to the Library of Congress as an important work, despite grossing what Box Office Mojo estimated as just US$ 4.5 million in US theatres.

“What makes this case so egregious is the prolonged and deliberate concealment of profit and the purposeful manipulation of revenue allocation between various Vivendi subsidiaries — to the detriment of the creative talent behind the band and fi lm,” Reiner said in the statement.

A Vivendi spokesman declined to discuss the lawsuit, saying the company doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Shearer asked for US$ 125 million in his original October fi ling. The lawsuit alleges that the Paris-based company made millions from videos and music from the fi lm but failed to share the income with the actors and creators.

The men’s statement said that Vivendi maintains that the four creators’ share of total worldwide merchandising income between 1984 and 2006 was US$ 81. The French company estimated the total income from soundtrack music sales between 1989 and 2006 at US$ 98, they said. — WPBloomberg