SHARON OSBOURNE On Unreleased OZZFEST Documentary 'We Sold Our Souls For Rock 'N' Roll'

Sharon Osbourne has commented on the current status of Penelope Spheeris' Ozzfest documentary "We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n' Roll". Shot in the late '90s, the film has never seen wide release and has been held up in what has been reported as "music copyright issues."

Responding to an article that was posted on Todd Martens' "Extended Play" blog on the Los Angeles Times web site, Sharon wrote in an e-mail: "We would love for 'We Sold Our Souls for Rock 'n' Roll' to eventually be released. We didn't invest over a million dollars in the movie to keep it locked away. In reality, we were unable to secure the necessary music licensing and talent releases from all of the bands that participated in the documentary. We needed a substantial amount of money to secure these releases so as a business proposition it just didn't make sense to pour even more money into the project. We all tried to find an independent backer to come in, but were unable to find anyone.

"As far as not allowing Penelope Spheeris to show the documentary at film festivals, please see below the list of festivals where I know that the film was shown (and there may have been more).

* Sundance Film Festival (2001)
* SXSW Film Festival (2001)
* Melbourne International Film Festival (2001)
* Sydney Film Festival (2001)
* Singapore International Film Festival (2001)
* Silver Lake Film Festival (2001)
* Chicago Underground Film Festival (2001)
* San Francisco Independent Film Festival (2002)
* Boston Underground Film Festival (2002)

"I also arranged for two industry screenings in Los Angeles and London that I totally financed at great expense in an attempt to find a distributor for the film.

"Tell me, what sense does it make for us to invest one million dollars in a film to let it sit? I truly wish that Penelope had found us an independent backer so we could have finished the project. Let her find us a backer to complete the project and we’ll do it."

Ozzy Osbourne is the subject of a new documentary being made by his son Jack, who told RollingStone.com that he's "trying to paint a realistic picture of who my father is." Jack added that he thinks the family's hugely successful reality series, "The Osbournes", "tarnished the public's perception of my dad as a bit of a senile, funny, bumbling guy. Yeah, my dad can be that guy, but it's not him. I think that almost discredited who he is as an artist. My dad's not an idiot — he's nothing short of a genius, in my opinion. He does have huge flaws, and we're trying to really paint an honest picture of that."

Ozzy himself told The Pulse of Radio that "The Osbournes" presented a more or less accurate picture of him at that time. "When we were doing that show, all I was was being myself, you know," he said. "And people would come up to me and say the weirdest things, like, 'You remind me so much of my old man Al. I'd go, 'Oh,'I'd feel like saying, 'How much dope did he smoke today, you know?'"

Jack began shooting the film last January. It features interviews with Ozzy's family and friends, all the principal members of BLACK SABBATH, plus various members of his solo band.

Jack Osbourne said he hopes to preview some of the film at next year's Ozzfest, which will once again be a "destination festival" in Dallas and perhaps some other cities.

Ozzy Osbourne co-headlined the one-day Ozzfest with METALLICA last month. He is currently working on a new album and his only scheduled live date is October 11 in Las Vegas.