The universe cuts us a break, casts Daniel Radcliffe as "Weird Al" Yankovic in biopic
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will stream exclusively on The Roku Channel courtesy of Funny or Die
The year is, once again, shaping up to be a rough one, but it’s not all spilled animal guts and beloved celebrity deaths: Daniel Radcliffe is set to play none other than “Weird Al” Yankovic in the upcoming pseudo-biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The film will be coming to The Roku Channel via Funny or Die and Tango.
We say “pseudo-biopic” because, c’mon, this is Weird Al we’re talking about here—it’s safe to say this will be less Walk the Line and more Walk Hard, judging by everyone already involved in the project. And thank God for that.
“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,” Yankovic says in a press release, adding that he is “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 was co-written by Yankovic alongside Eric Appel, who coincidentally just so happened to make a Funny or Die faux-trailer for this very same movie all the way back in 2013. Unsurprisingly, Appel is also tapped to direct the feature. It often takes time to recognize genius.
In all seriousness, Weird Al has long been one of the most versatile and enjoyable entertainers for going on 40 years (40 years!), and has a seriously impressive list of achievements under his suspenders: His 2014 album, Mandatory Fun, was the first comedy release to debut at #1 on the Billboard Top 100, and he’s one of three musicians to garner top 40 singles in each of the past four decades. The other two? Michael Jackson and Madonna.
No release date is available yet, but we expect plenty of enjoyable celebrity cameos to assist Radcliffe’s performance whenever Weird: The Al Yankovic Story hits Roku.