Double Fine Productions' Brütal Legend is packed with big names, including Jack Black, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford and, now, Tim Curry. Curry will replace Ronnie James Dio as Doviculus, chief bad guy of the open world action-adventure game. Why?
Well, Tim Schafer, president of Double Fine, essentially says that the character simply grew to be a better fit for an actor like Curry, not so much the former singer for Black Sabbath and Rainbow, who Schafer referred to as one of his "heavy metal heroes" when we chatted with him at E3.
"Ronnie James Dio is an amazing singer and truly one of the great figures of Metal, but as the character of Doviculus evolved, we realized that Tim Curry was a better fit for the part," Schafer said in a statement to Kotaku. "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."
The fact that Mr. Schafer didn't take the opportunity to note how this good news/bad news turn of events is kind of like a rainbow in the dark underscores the seriousness of the matter. Perhaps there's some merit to theory that technical limitations prevent including two former Black Sabbath singers on a single DVD.
At least we're going to benefit from the delicious addition of Mr. Curry, whose work on the film adaptation of Clue is one of the highlights of my movie-watching career.