A new documentary about the life of Randy Rhoads called Reflections Of a Guitar Icon recently premiered on Video on Demand . The film is directed by Andre Relis and features a series of interviews with great musicians, including Eddie Van Halen and Ozzy Osbourne , who worked with Rhoads on two of his albums.
Despite his participation, Relis told Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk that Osbourne presented some challenges for the documentary's production. According to the director, he couldn't secure the rights to videos from the time Ozzy and Randy worked together, nor to any music the duo had collaborated on.
“[Sharon and Ozzy] refused to give it to me, man. And they made that very clear when they found out I was making this documentary. That was the hardest part. I had to go after it on my own, without their help. I tried to ask for help, but they didn't want to know. So every little bit of when [Randy] joined Ozzy was very difficult to get,” he recounts.
According to the director, producers of other material about Randy Rhoads in 2008 and 2012 also faced problems with the Osbourne couple and were unable to obtain the rights to any music that had been made by the duo.
Andre Relis also failed to secure the support of Randy Rhoads' family to make the documentary. The final version of Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon includes interviews with family members that, according to him, are not new.
“I tried to get their cooperation, and I don’t need to go into details, but I hope that now that it’s been released, they realize that this is a genuine tribute to Randy Rhoads and a work to showcase his legacy. But for whatever reason, I think partly because of what was going on with the Osbournes, they couldn’t get involved,” he says.
READ ALSO: Ozzy Osbourne shares photos with Randy Rhoads on the anniversary of the musician's death.