Ozzy Osbourne Played A Very 'Ozzy' Role In Kylie Minogue's Moulin Rouge Cameo
Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film "Moulin Rouge" can be described in a lot of ways: romantic, tragic, and spectacular are certainly words that apply to the final piece of the filmmaker's Red Curtain Trilogy. It can also be classified as a jukebox musical, historical fiction, and (probably in more than a few cases) a sexual awakening. But to put it more simply, the movie is a mash-up.
This description works on many levels. Musically, it takes multiple popular songs from Nirvana, Madonna, The Beatles, Dolly Parton, and Elton John, then blends them into medleys and remixes to fit the narrative of the story. The soundtrack as a whole also blends these hit songs with original music that has become just as memorable over the past few decades since the feature film's debut.
Thematically, Luhrmann took inspiration from many corners of the entertainment world. During the writing process, he borrowed from extravagant movie musicals, Shakespeare, vaudeville, Puccini, cabaret, and Greek tragedies. The characters are also amalgamations that incorporated elements of real people from history with his own creations. Harold Zidler was partially named after one of the real owners of the Moulin Rouge. Nicole Kidman's Satine was based on the French can-can dancer Jane Avril. And of course, Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa was a prominent figure in 19th-century Paris, but likely differed from John Leguizamo's portrayal of the bohemian artist.
But probably most unexpectedly, the character known as the Green Fairy is a mash-up of two essentially polar opposite music legends: Kylie Minogue and Ozzy Osbourne. How did the writer/director determine that this was the right equation for the embodiment of a young writer's first experience with absinthe? Writer Gavin Edwards got to the bottom of this back in 2006.
The hills are alive with the sound of music
In his book "Is Tiny Dancer Really Elton's Little John?: Music's Most Enduring Mysteries, Myths, and Rumors Revealed" (via RuleFortyTwo.com), Gavin Edwards spoke to Baz Luhrmann about the first time Ewan McGregor's character drinks the magical liquid known as absinthe. The scene, which comes before Christian steps into the Moulin Rouge for the first time to meet Satine about the Bohemians' new play, features Kylie Minogue as an alcohol-induced Tinkerbell that shows the audience a glimpse of the group's hallucination. As she sings an operatic version of the title track from "The Sound of Music," the fairy becomes a bit more twisted, signifying that things may take a more sinister turn from that point forward.
The fairy's glowing red eyes are complimented by a change in voice courtesy of the Prince of F***ing Darkness. At the end of the absinthe sequence, you can hear Osbourne provide a "Crazy Train"-esque scream that comes out of the mouth of Minogue's sparkly sprite. However, the Black Sabbath singer's voice was originally intended to be included in more of the scene. In an email to Edwards from Luhrmann, the director elaborated:
"At one stage I had a much more complicated sequence where the innocent Green Fairy metamorphoses into its darker demonic alter-ego. With the ever-helpful Sharon Osbourne, we recorded Ozzy doing 'The Sound of Music' for that sequence–but we ended up cutting down his incredible vocal to a brief scream."
It's a bit of a shame that Osbourne's rendition of the Julie Andrews classic didn't make it into the final cut of the movie. But at least the heavy metal pioneer wasn't omitted entirely. If he were, then maybe the next head getting bitten off wouldn't have belonged to a bat.