Imagine a world where Will Smith was Neo in “The Matrix.” (It almost happened. Smith turned the part down.) Or if Stephen King had his way, Christopher Reeve would have starred in “The Shining.” We just had another one dumped on us courtesy of Sharon Osbourne. If not for her, we may have wound up seeing her husband, The Prince of Darkness, in “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
Ozzy Osbourne is a legendary figure in music and pop culture. People who haven’t heard a Black Sabbath in their life still no who Ozzy is. That’s probably the reason he was allegedly offered a potential role in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. After Johnny Depp revealed he modeled Jack Sparrow after Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, the door was wide open for rock star cameos. Hell, it’s why we got Richards playing Sparrow’s dad. But could it have been Ozzy instead?
Sharon recently appeared on Billy Corgan‘s podcast “The Magnificent Others,” and told the story of her ‘greatest mistake managing Ozzy’s career.’
“He got offered to go and read for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ and I’ve never said this to anyone,” Sharon said. Corgan suspected she had declined the offer, and she confirmed that’s exactly what she did. “I said no.” Sharon wasn’t clear on what part he was being offered to read. Did someone else take on the role he would’ve played, or was it a completely different part that was axed without Ozzy being there? Perhaps we’ll never know.
On the bright side, at least we got to see Ozzy in “Little Nicky.” That’s some consolation, right?
And despite his health not being so great in the last few years, Ozzy is still kicking around as best he can. We may not see him on the big screen in a “Pirates” movie, but he will be doing one last performance with Black Sabbath this July. When you’ve had a career as full as Ozzy has had, do you really need to add a pirate to your resume?
