Daniel Radcliffe is "Weird Al" Yankovic in the official trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. After premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film will be coming to The Roku Channel on Nov. 4 where it will be free to stream. The trailer, which you can watch below, provides new footage with a sneak peek at what's to come in the bizarre biopic about the weirdest and most revered song parodist of all time.
Eric Appel directed the film using a screenplay he'd co-written with the real "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is produced by Funny Or Die and Tango, and along with Radcliffe in the lead, the film also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna. You can read the synopsis for the movie below.
"Daniel Radcliffe is “Weird” Al Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of our time. From a conventional upbringing where playing the accordion was a sin, Al rebelled and made his dream of changing the words to world-renowned songs come true. An instant success and sex symbol, Al lives an excessive lifestyle and pursues an infamous romance that nearly destroys him."
“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 said of Radcliffe's casting in a statement. "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 Film Is Based On a Parody Trailer
This film is based on a parody trailer made by Funny Or Die in 2013. In the original video, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul had played Yankovic. To bring it back full circle, Yankovic had invited Paul to have a cameo in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but the timing did not work out. Paul later said he was crushed to miss out on the chance to appear in the film.
"It's so great. I loved doing that," Paul said of the original video, via CinemaBlend. "I love Al [Yankovic], I love Eric Appel, who wrote the skit for Funny Or Die and directed it. And he wrote the film with Al, and he's directing the feature as well. I read that script years ago and it was just so over the top beautiful. It was just when they were kind of poking around seeing if they could get this thing made, and I was really excited to see it finally kind of come together, and obviously Daniel [Radcliffe] is amazing. And so I think he's absolutely going to crush it."
Revealing that a COVID diagnosis ruined his chance for a cameo, Paul added, "I have never felt more sick in my life. And so we couldn't do the cameo, which I just absolutely was crushed about."
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will be available exclusively on The Roku Channel starting on Friday, Nov. 4, 2022.