Yesterday it was announced that there’s a Weird Al Yankovic biopic coming and it’s going to star Daniel Radcliffe! It was co-written by Weird Al and will be produced by Funny or Die for Roku. Just hearing this news I was excited about this story, but the quotes from Weird Al, his co-writer Eric Appel and Roku are so funny that now I wish they didn’t tell us about it yet. Here’s more, from The Guardian:
Radcliffe was confirmed to star in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on Tuesday. The film will follow the life and career of the five-time Grammy award-winning musician, whose early hits included Eat It (a parody of Michael Jackson’s Beat It), Amish Paradise (Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise) and Like a Surgeon (Madonna’s Like a Virgin).
“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork,” the 62-year-old said. “I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule.
“And I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”
The biopic will air on the streaming service Roku. It is written by Yankovic and Eric Appel, and produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s company, Funny Or Die. Production is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles in early February.
“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it,” Appel said.
Yankovic, who has recorded more than 150 parodies and original songs, is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time. His 2014 release Mandatory Fun was the first comedy album in history to debut at No 1 on the US music chart Billboard’s Top 200.
“There clearly aren’t enough biopic movies about famous musicians and we were excited to shine a light on the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al,” said Colin Davis, Roku’s head of original scripted programming.
We barely ever report on Weird Al because he’s just a stand up guy. He’s been married for over 20 years to his wife Suzanne, a photographer and marketing executive, and they have an 18-year-old daughter named Nina. The last time we talked about him was in 2018 when an older story resurfaced about how he turned down $5 million in the 90s to endorse a beer brand because it would send a bad message to his young audience. He’s just a decent human being and he’s so smart and entertaining too! His lyrics and performances are hilarious. My son and I saw him on tour in 2015 and he put on such a great show.
Daniel is an excellent actor who doesn’t get enough credit for turning in great performances post-Harry Potter. You know he will nail Al’s mannerisms and goofiness. I love both Weird Al and Daniel Radcliffe and only wish they waited until this project was a little further along before telling us about it. I don’t want to wait another year or so to see it!
I can’t believe how excited I am to see this!!
This is going to be hilarious
I’m excited for this!
I love – LOVE – Weird Al! He is such a great, upstanding all-around wholesome man. I really enjoy Daniel Radcliffe and his IRL offbeat sense of humor. But this casting… eh? WAY brings such a physical comedy on top of his musical and intellectual humor. Part of it is was his gangly mess of limbs especially when he was younger. I just don’t know that DR can fully pull it off, especially because he’s so much shorter (6’0″ vs 5’5″). But, if Hollywood can cast a tall Hugh Jackman to play short Wolverine over and over and over and over… I guess I’ll allow it /s.
Love them both and looking forward to this. But truly inspired casting would have been Alexander Vlahos – a terribly underrated actor and total Weird Al doppelganger (especially with his Versailles hair).
I love everything about this! Can’t wait to see it.
I cannot wait for this either! This is a pizza and movie party event at my house.
I will see this.
Love Daniel, he is such a good actor for which he doesn’t get enough credit. I saw him several years ago at the Old Vic here in London in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (written by Tom Stoppard). He has very good comedic talent.
I love Weird Al. He is so creative, funny and nice. Just a nice man making us laugh with his insane revisions of pop stars’ songs.
LOVE HIM and I am sooooo HERE FOR THIS!!
I love this! Daniel is a good actor who picks very interesting roles. Al is by all accounts the nicest guy in the world, and is so creative and successful. I think this will be fun to see.
Also Al’s wife is lovely!
I rode in an elevator once with Weird Al. I was silently fan girling—he is one of my faves! I felt a little starstruck honestly.
I love everything about this!!!! Also (and I wasn’t the one to come up with this idea) I want Weird Al to write a new song for Daniel to sing in the movie mocking JK Rowling and her TERF horribleness. Please and thank you.
His wife and daughter are too cute!! I play Weird Al in the car a lot because my 14 year-old doesn’t like the pop music his 9 year-old sister loves, but they can both agree on Weird Al. His “Hamilton Polka” is amazing and a favorite, although all of his songs are fun. I’ll definitely watch this!
Our family are big fans, especially my younger brother who had all the records, an AL TV t-shirt and he used to play act to the songs, haha. He got to meet Al after he opened for the Monkees, circa ’87, maybe. Al was gracious and funny. Can’t wait for this movie! I’m not sure about Daniel’s casting, but he does have great comedic timing and will probably be perfect.