It appears as if the legal spat between Ozzy Osbourne and Ronnie James Dio didn’t spill into Double Fine Production’s Brütal Legend. In response to the news of Dio’s voice being stripped from the game, president of Double Fine Tim Schafer issued a statement citing the addition of Tim Curry’s pipes as a creative move.
“Ronnie James Dio is an amazing singer and truly one of the great figures of Metal,” Schafer said, “but as the character of Doviculus evolved, we realized that Tim Curry was a better fit for the part. Anyone who has seen his amazing performance as the Lord of Darkness in the movie Legend knows why we cast him in the role of Doviculus, Emperor of the Tainted Coil.”
Our initial report of Dio’s removal from Brütal Legend was laced with legal speculation: the guys at SpineLanguage believed it had something to do with Osbourne suing for the rights to the Black Sabbath name. Dio is the current front man for the ancient group, thus it was assumed there might have been a problem with the two men appearing in the same game.
While not having Dio seems to take the “metal” down a few levels, we’re happy to report the opposite. Brütal Legend now has a voice actor who once played a viscious, shape-shifting clown in a television series. Metal indeed.
We all float down here, Georgie. We all float.
