Finding an actor to portray ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic accurately is no easy task, as the famous parody singer is an outlandish character in his own right. Still, Daniel Radcliffe got the part, as the actor once known for his time in the wizarding world of Harry Potter took his talents to the early 80s with the biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
The Roku Channel movie isn’t your average biopic, as the story is almost complete fiction. Instead, it serves as a parody of other popular biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Walk the Line. Yankovic felt Radcliffe would need the right comedic timing to pull off the role. Instead of making the movie a comedy, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes itself seriously in order to make the audience laugh. During an interview with Variety, ‘Weird Al’ reveals the reason he chose Radcliffe for the part, saying, “he had the right attitude and the right energy for the movie.”
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“Absolutely. Eric and I were sitting around, and we were trying to figure out who would be a good person to play me in the movie. And we generated a list of maybe half a dozen or so actors that we thought could pull it off. And the name that we kept focusing on was Daniel’s, because we just thought that he had the right attitude and the right energy for the movie. Daniel is amazing at comedic acting as well as dramatic acting. And we definitely needed somebody who could do both. Because even though it’s a comedy, we don’t play it like a comedy. We play it like a very, very serious Oscar-worthy Hollywood biopic. And Daniel had to be able to pull off those dramatic moments, which he does. We’re both thrilled that Daniel was open to doing the role. And as we predicted, he absolutely nailed it.”
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is Available to Stream Now
The Roku Channel
Fans of ‘Weird Al’ don’t need to wait any longer to see Daniel Radcliffe’s portrayal of the titular singer, as Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is available to stream on the Roku Channel now. The official synopsis gives fans an idea of the fictional aspect of the movie as it reads: “Explores every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with his early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.”
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story features an all-star cast, including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Rainn Wilson, Julianne Nicholson, Thomas Lennon, Will Forte, Patton Oswalt, Quinta Brunson, Jack Black, Evan Rachel Wood, and even ‘Weird Al’ himself. Radcliffe leads the charge in Roku’s feature film, with Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, available now. An exclusive interview with director Eric Appel can be found here, where he talks about everything involved in making the long-awaited film that started as a Funny or Die short.
