If the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the upcoming musical biopic about the accordion-tickling parody artist hasn’t piqued your interest yet, perhaps the first trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will. Radcliffe is going all in as Yankovic in his early ’80s heyday for Roku’s streaming channel, the kind of thing one can do when you have Harry Potter residuals to cushion your most creative endeavors.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story “holds nothing back,” Roku says of its original film about the Grammy-winning artist, “from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.” Yes, everyone’s having a good time here.
The teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much; Radcliffe, as Yankovic, performs parodies, squeezes the accordion, and models a variety of colorful Hawaiian shirts. Shirts-dislikers get a treat too: Radcliffe looks more shredded than “Weird Al” ever did (when not prosthetically enhanced, that is).
Joining Radcliffe in his “Weird Al” biopic are Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento. Al Yankovic and Eric Appel wrote the film. Appel is directing, and his credits include TV series like New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and NTSF:SD:SUV.
Here’s a quote from “Weird Al” about the movie about himself: “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. 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.”
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story hits the Roku Channel sometime this fall, giving you plenty of time to figure out what that channel is.
