JACK OSBOURNE Talks To AMC NEWS About 'God Bless Ozzy Osbourne' Documentary
May 5, 2011AMC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff sat down with Jack Osbourne, son of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and now producer of the documentary "God Bless Ozzy Osbourne", which premiered at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. The younger Osbourne explained that his desire to move away from television and "make some stuff" led to his publicist telling him, "Get a camera and just film your dad." Osbourne took this advice to heart, and the resulting documentary features never-before-seen footage of the rocker and interviews with music icons like Paul McCartney and Tommy Lee. Watch the video below for more on how Jack dealt with Ozzy's struggle for sobriety in the film.
"God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" was co-produced by Jack Osbourne and is the first film released by Jack's production company, Jacko Productions. The documentary, which was originally titled "Wreckage Of My Past: The Ozzy Osbourne Story", was directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli.
"God Bless Ozzy Osbourne" premiered on April 24 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City and received a positive review from Entertainment Weekly, which said, "What could have been a glossy, fawning tribute to the most visible face in heavy metal music history especially considering it was co-produced by his son, Jack actually turned out to be a remarkably evenhanded look at Ozzy's monumental musical influence as well as his less exemplary life as an addict and often-absent father."
Critic Joseph Brannigan Lynch added, "'God Bless Ozzy Osbourne' may not answer the question 'What makes Ozzy act so... Ozzy-like?', but it's hardly a fluffy tribute. This documentary succeeds in offering a balanced portrait of a man who made many mistakes over the course of his addiction-riddled life and also happens to be one of the most influential hard rock singers ever."
Lynch also wrote that the film "starts with Osbourne's poor childhood in the cramped quarters of inner-city Birmingham, England, and goes up to his long-sought sobriety following the end of the water-cooler fodder reality series 'The Osbournes'."
While the movie does not delve into certain aspects of Ozzy's life such as his attempted strangulation of wife/manager Sharon years ago frank interviews with his five children "portray him as an absentee father even when he was physically present due to his mind-numbing abuse of pills, cocaine and liquor," according to Lynch.
The film features interviews with many of Ozzy's family members, friend and colleagues, including Paul McCartney, the members of BLACK SABBATH and MTLEY CRE's Tommy Lee.
Plans for theatrical distribution have yet to be announced.
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