Daniel Radcliffe is starring as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the upcoming biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The Funny or Die film is premiering on the Roku Channel later this year (Roku is not currently available in Australia). Watch the official trailer below.
Yankovic himself co-wrote Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. Eric Appel is the film’s director, co-writer and executive producer. “When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it,” said Appel, “but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”
Appel previously released a short film with the same title, in 2010. Appel’s other directing credits include various episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl and The Office.
Speaking to Deadline in February, Radcliffe said, “I’m honoured to finally share with the world the absolutely 100% unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life.” He added, “Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”
Yankovic is known for releasing parodies of hit songs, such as Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat Eat’ (‘Eat It’), Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ (‘Like a Surgeon’), Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ (‘Amish Paradise’) and Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ (the Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace recap, ‘The Saga Begins’).
