variety.com
06.03.2023 / 23:45
Eugene Levy: TV Shows ‘Destroyed’ the Mockumentary Genre, So a New Christopher Guest Fake Doc Is Unlikely
Zack Sharf Digital News Director Bad news for any comedy fan hoping Christopher Guest might get his troupe back together for another mockumentary movie. Guest and actors such as Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Jane Lynch and more popularized the fake documentary format with comedy classics such as “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “Waiting for Guffman.” Guest even co-wrote and acted in perhaps the most famous mockumentary of all time, 1984’s “This Is Spinal Tap.” Yet Levy recently told The Guardian that another mockumentary from the Guest troupe is unlikely. “No, I don’t think it will happen,” Levy said. “Our last one was ‘For Your Consideration’ back in 2006. Our fake documentaries — Chris always hated the term ‘mockumentary’ because we’re not mocking, it’s more affectionate than that — but they were getting a little cookie-cutter in terms of story. Everything was kind of the same, except we just changed the subject. At a certain point, that becomes predictable. In the interim, so many television shows have picked up that form and just destroyed it.”