Jack Osbourne Says Ozzy Biopic Script Is Done, Eyes 2028 Release

Jack Osbourne, one of the film's producers, says the project is moving forward and a director search is about to begin.

Jack Osbourne confirmed during a May 12 YouTube livestream that the script for the Ozzy Osbourne biopic is complete and that the film is actively moving forward. The 40-year-old producer said a director search is imminent and offered a tentative release window of 2028, describing the project as a labour of love and expressing genuine excitement about getting it in front of audiences.

Jack Osbourne Confirms Script Is Ready

Speaking directly to fans on his YouTube channel, Jack Osbourne left little room for doubt about the film's status. ‘I can tell you this: we are moving ahead,' he said. ‘I was on calls today about it. The script is right there. We are good. This movie will absolutely happen.'

On timing, Jack was candid about the realities of the production calendar. ‘Realistically, I mean, look, we're already halfway through '26, it probably won't come out until '28. But you never know. But, yeah, we're full steam ahead. We're about to start going out and getting a director attached. So, fingers crossed. I'm really excited. It's, yeah, very much been a labour of love, of course. But, yeah, I'm excited, I'm excited for everyone to see this film.'

A Project Years in the Making

Plans for the biopic were first announced in 2021, with Oscar nominee Lee Hall, who wrote the 2019 Elton John film Rocket Man, set to draft the script. A representative for PolyGram Entertainment said at that time that they were ‘currently in negotiations with a director, which could be confirmed very soon,' but no further updates followed for some time.

Ozzy's death last July at age 76, following a heart attack at his Buckinghamshire home, raised questions about the project's future. PolyGram told Variety last August that they still intended to make the film. Jack provided another update in January, revealing that a ‘phenomenal actor' had been chosen to play his father, though he declined to name the performer. He also noted at that point that the script was being rewritten, with Hall still reported as involved.

In February, speaking on Billy Corgan's podcast The Magnificent Others, Jack described his own role with characteristic self-deprecation. ‘Out of all the team assembled on it, with these amazing producers and directors and act[ors], whatever, I'm the least qualified, but everyone just comes to me,' he said. ‘I'm the middleman for everyone because if they need questions for my mum or if my mum needs questions for them. So I've found myself in this position where I'm the middleman with it all, and I'm really enjoying the experience and just learning about it.'

Ozzy's Final Chapter and Legacy Projects

Ozzy died less than two weeks after performing at his retirement concert Back To The Beginning at Villa Park in Birmingham, a short distance from where he grew up in Aston. He played two short sets at that show, one with his solo band and another alongside Black Sabbath co-founders Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. It was the first time all four original members had shared a stage since 2005.

Several other projects have documented his final years. His second autobiography, Last Rites, was published posthumously. A documentary titled No Escape From Now, covering his final years, was released via Paramount Plus in October. A separate BBC documentary called Coming Home focused on his and Sharon's move from America back to the UK in March 2025.

What we know

• Jack Osbourne confirmed on May 12 during a YouTube livestream that the Ozzy biopic script is written and the project is moving forward.
• Jack Osbourne said the film will likely not be released until 2028, though he noted the timeline is not certain.
• The production team is about to begin searching for a director to attach to the project.
• Oscar nominee Lee Hall, who wrote Rocket Man, was set to draft the script, and was reported as still involved as of January.
• Jack Osbourne said in January that a ‘phenomenal actor' had been chosen to play Ozzy, but did not confirm the name.
• PolyGram Entertainment is the production entity behind the biopic.
• Ozzy Osbourne died last July at age 76 following a heart attack at his Buckinghamshire home.
• Ozzy's final concert, Back To The Beginning, took place at Villa Park in Birmingham, and featured the first full Black Sabbath original lineup on stage since 2005.

The take

The Ozzy Osbourne biopic has followed a trajectory familiar to anyone who tracks rock biopics closely. These projects routinely spend years in development before a camera rolls, and the more complicated the subject's life, the longer the gestation tends to be. Ozzy's story spans five-plus decades of Black Sabbath, a solo career that redefined heavy metal's commercial ceiling, well-documented personal struggles, and a late-career cultural renaissance via reality television. That is an enormous amount of material to compress into a single film, and the script revisions Jack mentioned in January suggest the team is still wrestling with scope and framing. The involvement of Lee Hall, whose Rocket Man script balanced biography with theatrical spectacle, signals an intent to make something with genuine cinematic ambition rather than a straightforward chronicle. The casting of an unnamed actor, described as phenomenal, adds intrigue; the role demands someone who can credibly inhabit Ozzy across multiple decades and physical states. Historically, rock biopics that take their time in development, Bohemian Rhapsody spent years in turnaround before its 2018 release, have sometimes emerged stronger for it. A 2028 window gives the production room to find the right director and refine the approach, though it also means audiences will wait nearly a decade from the project's initial announcement.

Why it matters

For Classic Rock fans, the Ozzy biopic represents one of the last major untold stories of the genre's founding generation. Ozzy's arc from working-class Birmingham to global icon, told on film with the family's direct involvement, carries a weight that unauthorized productions simply cannot match. Jack's role as intermediary between the creative team and Sharon Osbourne also suggests the film will have access to personal material and family perspective that could set it apart from the standard rock-doc formula. The project's progress matters to the broader legacy conversation around Black Sabbath and the origins of heavy metal.

What's next

The immediate next step, per Jack Osbourne's May 12 update, is going out to attach a director to the project. No release date has been confirmed, though Jack indicated 2028 is the realistic target. The identity of the actor cast to play Ozzy has not yet been publicly announced.

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