Black Sabbath’s original manager says ‘War Pigs’ was “perfect” for ‘Napoleon’ trailer

Black Sabbath’s original manager has said that the use of the band’s ‘War Pigs’ in the new trailer for Napoleon was a “perfect” use of the song.

The upcoming film from director Ridley Scott stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in the film. It follows the French leader’s rise to power and his relationship with Empress Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). Other cast members include Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles and Rupert Everett.

The historical epic will be released in cinemas from November 22, with a four-hour director’s cut set to arrive on Apple TV+ at a later date. The theatrical cut spans 157 minutes.

When the trailer was released this summer, it featured Sabbath’s anti-war song, ‘War Pigs’, which was released on the band’s second studio album ‘Paranoid’ in 1970.

Jim Simpson, the band’s original manager, told Westside BID that using the song in the trailer was “absolutely perfect”.

“In the trailer for a film set more than 200 years ago, you can hear a crystal-clear Ozzy [Osbourne] singing Geezer’s [Butler] lyrics in the anti-war song ‘War Pigs’: ‘Generals gathered in their masses, just like witches at black masses…‘ and it sounds absolutely perfect,” he said.

“Like Beethoven, Mozart and all of the other great composers, you can imagine Sabbath’s made-in-Birmingham music will still be played and appreciated in 200 or more years’ in the future, too.”

Meanwhile, Sharon Osbourne recently revealed that she is opening an Ozzy Osbourne museum in Ozzy’s hometown of Birmingham.

Sharon explained on The Osbournes Podcast: “He’s having all of his awards [in the museum], all his stage clothes, posters, old posters from [the pre-Black Sabbath band] Earth days…I’ve got so much memorabilia.

“We’re gonna do it totally interactive — every video, every live show of your dad’s, everything there. It’s more of an educational thing for musicians and artists that want to see that you can come from nothing, and if you work hard enough this is what you can get.

“We’re going to have a café, and in there we’re going to have every instrument you can think of. Music students can come in and we’re gonna do music classes, because there’s no music at schools anymore. We’re gonna get friends, other musicians to come in,” she added, saying it was inspired by School of Rock.