Renowned filmmaker Rob Reiner, famous for directing the iconic This Is Spinal Tap in 1984, revealed that the legendary band Black Sabbath was profoundly upset about a specific scene in the movie, despite having no justification for their anger. The film humorously portrays a scenario where the band intends to create a massive replica of Stonehenge for their concert stage. However, due to a misunderstanding, the final product ends up being a mere 18 inches tall, leading to comedic chaos.

Upon the film’s release in 1984, Black Sabbath mistakenly believed that Reiner had appropriated their Stonehenge concept for the film. The band indeed had utilized a Stonehenge replica during their own tours, but ironically faced their own issues with the scale, resulting in an even larger display than they had initially planned.

The band’s bassist, Geezer Butler, recounted in his memoir, Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath―And Beyond, that during rehearsals at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, the stones looked significantly impressive on the floor. However, at their first concert in Norway, once the stones were placed on stage, they were shockingly close to the ceiling, creating an unintended spectacle.

This particular incident took place in 1983, well after Rob Reiner‘s team had conceived their own Stonehenge idea, which had been in development for several years and was filmed in 1982. The timeline indicates that the film’s creative process had no connection to Black Sabbath’s stage setup.

As Reiner shared in a recent interview with Screen Rant, “Black Sabbath was currently on tour [without Ozzy Osbourne] and they released their tour just a couple of weeks prior to our film’s debut [and they had Stonehenge].” Their reaction was one of anger, believing that we had taken the Stonehenge theme directly from them.

READ MORE: 17 Hilarious Real-Life Rock Star ‘Spinal Tap’ Stories. While This Is Spinal Tap drew inspiration from various real-life rock ‘n’ roll events, Reiner firmly stated that this particular instance was purely coincidental.

Reiner humorously reflected, saying, “To me, it was the best thing, because what morons. What did they think? That we shot the film, edited it, and got it into theaters in two weeks? That notion is absolutely ludicrous. To me, that was the quintessential moment in heavy metal: their misunderstanding demonstrated how out of touch they were, thinking we plagiarized their idea.”

The beloved film This Is Spinal Tap is set to celebrate its 41st anniversary with a special re-release, allowing audiences to experience the hilarity in theaters for a limited time starting July 5.

Watch the Iconic Stonehenge Scene from ‘This Is Spinal Tap’