Besides his iconic songs in the heavy metal genre for the band Black Sabbath, the late Ozzy Osbourne is known for playing himself or an iteration of his rock star persona in feature films. One of his memorable roles comes in 2000's Little Nicky, starring Adam Sandler in the lead role. In an iconic scene in the film, Osbourne bites off Rhys Ifans' character Adrian's head, a meta reference to an infamous incident involving the singer and a bat. Once, a fan threw a real bat to the stage where Osbourne was performing, but the singer thought that it was a toy and bit its head off. After Osbourne's death, his co-star from Little Nicky, Sandler paid a tribute to him by referring to the scene from the film.
In the post, Sandler also expressed his admiration for the late singer, often known as the 'Godfather of Heavy Metal' for his pioneering work in the music field and as 'Prince of Darkness' for the horror connection in his band's 1970 song 'Black Sabbath'. Sandler wrote, "Whether we were in our basements with our brothers, in the woods with our buddies, in the car, at a keg party, on a boat, at football practice, at a sleepover….Nobody was more bad*** to crank up on our speakers than the one and only prince of darkness - Ozzy Osborne! Loved him a lot like we all did! Sending love to the family and so happy to have spent time with the legend himself."
Little Nicky also features Osbourne's songs: 'Mama, I'm Coming Home' and 'No More Tears'. Meanwhile, Sandler is awaiting the release of Happy Gilmore 2, the sequel to his 1996 film. A Kyle Newacheck directorial, Happy Gilmore 2 is slated for a July 25 release on Netflix.