Daniel Radcliffe Tapped To Play Weird Al In 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' Biopic
By Kristin Myers on January 18, 2022 at 10:16 AM EST
Turns out that "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe is going to be taking on the responsibility of bringing Weird Al Yankovic and his legendary career to life!
As reported by Deadline, "The Lost City" star will be playing the Grammy-winning legend in an upcoming biopic called "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story." The Roku original biopic has been brought to life by Funny or Die and Tango. It will be available for streaming exclusively on Roku after its release.
What Is 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' About?
The biopic plans to start at Weird Al's childhood and chronicle his rise to fame, starting with his early songs like "Eat It" and "Like a Surgeon." It will also touch on his series of celebrity relationships and his "depraved lifestyle."
Funny Or Die's Eric Appel both directed and wrote the biopic, with Yankovic's heavy involvement in the creation of the script.
Yankovic will also be producing the film alongside Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, and Whitney Hodack for Funny Or Die. Tim Headington, Lia Buman, and Max Silva will be producing for Tango. Appel will also be serving as executive producer with Funny Or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah.
Production is slated to start in Los Angeles early next month. No release date has yet been announced.
'I Knew That We Had To Make A Movie About It'
“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it,” Appel told Deadline. “But I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”
Weird Al Yankovic has become famous for his song parodies, such as "Amish Paradise" and "Trapped in the Drive-Thru." As such, Weird Al has made a name for himself as one of the best-selling comedic recording artists of all time. Weird Al has won five Grammy Awards, and his 2014 album "Mandatory Fun" was the first comedy album in history to hit the number one spot on Billboard's Top 200 chart.
Weird Al also joined the ranks of Michael Jackson and Madonna to score top 40 hits in each of the last four decades.
Weird Al Yankovic Is 'Absolutely Thrilled' To See Daniel Radcliffe Portray Him On Screen
Weird Al Yankovic said that he was "absolutely thrilled" to see the "Harry Potter" alum portraying himself in the biopic.
"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," he 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," he added.
Roku's Head of Original Scripted Programming, Colin Davis, said that they were excited to "shine a light" on one of the most famous musicians of all time.
"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," Davis said. "This is sincerely the ultimate combination of talent, creativity, and friends, coming together to make something genuinely funny and we could not be prouder to call this film a Roku Original."
Funny Or Die's chairman and executive producer, Muñoz III, added, "I am excited that my first project as the owner of Funny Or Die Studios is to help bring the story of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic to the screen."
"Weird Al is a comic genius and his impact on pop culture, his mastery of the music video, his award-winning music, and his incredible life are a perfect fit for the talented producers at FOD," he continued.
"We are honored to partner with Roku, Tango, and our director Eric Appel on this important movie,' he concluded. "WEIRD has brought together a weird and wonderful team of creative people, to tell the story of a man who has made people laugh and sing across the world."
Weird Al Yankovic Isn't Just A Musician - He's An Actor Too!
In August 2018, Weird Al Yankovic even got his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! He has almost 200 screen credits to his name, including writing and starring in the cult classic "UHF" in 1989.
He also hosted his own show on CBS, called "The Weird Al Show" back in 1997. He has also appeared in comedies like "30 Rock" and "Children's Hospital." He has lent his voice to the Fox animated comedy "American Dad!" and several others.
He has also appeared in "Work in Progress," "Bill & Ted Face The Music," and the reboot of "Reno 911!" Although "Reno" first was rebooted on Quibi, it has since moved over to Roku, which will be exclusively hosting Weird Al's biopic.
