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New Trailer: Daniel Radcliffe transforms into Weird Al for biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

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Daniel Radcliffe transforms into Weird Al for biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Radcliffe puts on his best polka face in a first look photo as Weird Al.
By Jessica WangFebruary 22, 2022 at 05:00 PM EST

image









Things are getting weird over at the Roku Channel.
The streaming channel released the first look at Daniel Radcliffe's transformation into musician "Weird Al" Yankovic for the forthcoming biopic, WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story.
Radcliffe can be seen rocking Yankovic's (born Alfred Matthew Yankovic) trademark curls, glasses, and Hawaiian t-shirt, piano accordion in tow, in the photo shared Tuesday.
Daniel Radcliffe as "Weird Al" Yankovic

| CREDIT: AARON EPSTEIN/ROKU CHANNEL
"Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don't take lightly, and I'm honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al's depraved and scandalous life," Radcliffe told PEOPLE.

Roku announced last month that the Harry Potter alum would play Yankovic in the feature based on the career of the Grammy-winning musician and pop culture icon. According to the film's release, the biopic holds "nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic's life, 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."
It further promises to "take audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic's life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time." In a statement, Yankovic quipped that this will be the role future generations would remember Radcliffe for.
(L-R) Daniel Radcliffe; "Weird Al" Yankovic

| CREDIT: JIM SPELLMAN/GETTY IMAGES; KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
"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 joked. "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 written by Yankovic and Eric Appel, who will also direct and executive produce. Yankovic will produce alongside Funny or Die's Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, and Whitney Hodack, as well as Tango's Tim Headington, Lia Buman, and Max Silva. The film will be available for free exclusively on the Roku Channel.
 
ew.com

Daniel Radcliffe commits fully in the loopy fact-free biopic 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'

Freely adapted from a life in progress, 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' is feverishly zany, with its cast having the most fun.
ew.com ew.com

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story review: Daniel Radcliffe stars in a loopy fact-free biopic

The man, the myth, the mustache.
By Leah GreenblattSeptember 09, 2022 at 07:33 PM EDT




What kind of fitting biopic would Weird: The Al Yankovic Story be if it played it straight? Eric Appel's directorial debut — which premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival and is due on Roku this fall — essentially plays like a movie-length Funny or Die sketch, which it is, technically (or at least produced under that production umbrella): a giddy cameo-stacked satire marked by murder, mayhem, Mexican drug lords, and athletic sex with Madonna. This is whole-cloth fantasy, of course, and that's the point: less Walk the Line than Walk Hard, with accordions.
Daniel Radcliffe, his hair a curly Bob Ross nimbus and his floral shirts every shade of Trader Joe's, is Al, a kid who dreams of making music — specifically, other people's, but with goofier lyrics. His kind-hearted mother (Julianne Nicholson) and irascible one-handed father (Toby Huss) don't understand this strange changeling they've produced, but they assume he'll come to his senses one day and go to work like his dad at the factory (what do they make there? Nobody knows, but it consumes a lot of body parts). Instead young Al falls hard for polka, goes off to college, and finds his come-to-Jesus moment in a pile of processed lunchmeat. When "My Sharona" becomes "My Bologna" a star is born, literally: Within moments he's on the radio and ruling the charts.

'Abbott Elementary' star Quinta Brunson plays Oprah Winfrey in the Daniel Radcliffe-led Weird Al Yankovic biopic.

Things move pretty fast in Weird — like Behind the Music smash-cut fast. Soon Al has a record contract, a sprawling McMansion, and a string of hits that won't quit. But he wants to be more than a parody Xerox of whatever's on the Hot 100, and the arrival of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) brings his first big love affair, along with his attempt at straightforward songwriting (what, you thought "Beat It" came before "Eat It"?). Wood plays her as gum-snapping sociopath, a scheming succubus who aims to wear him out sexually and also get the coveted "Yankovic bump" that comes to artists whose material he takes on.

Those ambitions get them entangled somehow with Pablo Escobar (Broad City's Arturo Castro, having a ball), and a bloodbath rumble in the jungle, but even that sidebar goes by in a rush, so busy is Weird piling on the guest stars and outsized set pieces: A single pool-party scene hosted by Al's soon-to-be mentor Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) features Conan O'Brien, Jack Black, and about 17 other vaguely familiar faces playing everyone from Andy Warhol to Alice Cooper. Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson drops in as a wiggy, nonplussed Oprah, as does Lin-Manuel Miranda as an ER doctor who can't stop the beat.

The movie's celebrity whack-a-mole makes for a good drinking game, no doubt, but Radcliffe still has to carry most of the story, as gleefully careening and surreal as it is. And he commits admirably to the movie's full-tilt concept, conjuring a bizarro-world Al both brash and endearingly sincere (and disconcertingly CrossFit-ripped); he'll throw a man through a plate glass window and drink whiskey like it's water, but still come home to his parents' house for a chips-and-sandwich dinner.

The script, by Appel and the real Yankovic, who also appears briefly as a skeptical record executive, treats time as a flat circle, folding "Amish Paradise" into the events of 1985 — Coolio's original was actually released a full decade later — and putting Madonna's backup dancers in anachronistic cone bras years before they debuted in the real world. But that's all part of Weird's fast and loose comedy, an alternative-facts fever dream so bent on the certifiably ridiculous that it circles back around somehow, to sweetness. You don't need any of it, really, but as far as celebrity hagiographies go, you kind of can't beat it. Grade: B+
 
Last edited:
playahaitian said:
ew.com

Daniel Radcliffe commits fully in the loopy fact-free biopic 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'

Freely adapted from a life in progress, 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story' is feverishly zany, with its cast having the most fun.
ew.com ew.com

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story review: Daniel Radcliffe stars in a loopy fact-free biopic

The man, the myth, the mustache.
By Leah GreenblattSeptember 09, 2022 at 07:33 PM EDT




What kind of fitting biopic would Weird: The Al Yankovic Story be if it played it straight? Eric Appel's directorial debut — which premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival and is due on Roku this fall — essentially plays like a movie-length Funny or Die sketch, which it is, technically (or at least produced under that production umbrella): a giddy cameo-stacked satire marked by murder, mayhem, Mexican drug lords, and athletic sex with Madonna. This is whole-cloth fantasy, of course, and that's the point: less Walk the Line than Walk Hard, with accordions.
Daniel Radcliffe, his hair a curly Bob Ross nimbus and his floral shirts every shade of Trader Joe's, is Al, a kid who dreams of making music — specifically, other people's, but with goofier lyrics. His kind-hearted mother (Julianne Nicholson) and irascible one-handed father (Toby Huss) don't understand this strange changeling they've produced, but they assume he'll come to his senses one day and go to work like his dad at the factory (what do they make there? Nobody knows, but it consumes a lot of body parts). Instead young Al falls hard for polka, goes off to college, and finds his come-to-Jesus moment in a pile of processed lunchmeat. When "My Sharona" becomes "My Bologna" a star is born, literally: Within moments he's on the radio and ruling the charts.

'Abbott Elementary' star Quinta Brunson plays Oprah Winfrey in the Daniel Radcliffe-led Weird Al Yankovic biopic.

Things move pretty fast in Weird — like Behind the Music smash-cut fast. Soon Al has a record contract, a sprawling McMansion, and a string of hits that won't quit. But he wants to be more than a parody Xerox of whatever's on the Hot 100, and the arrival of Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) brings his first big love affair, along with his attempt at straightforward songwriting (what, you thought "Beat It" came before "Eat It"?). Wood plays her as gum-snapping sociopath, a scheming succubus who aims to wear him out sexually and also get the coveted "Yankovic bump" that comes to artists whose material he takes on.

Those ambitions get them entangled somehow with Pablo Escobar (Broad City's Arturo Castro, having a ball), and a bloodbath rumble in the jungle, but even that sidebar goes by in a rush, so busy is Weird piling on the guest stars and outsized set pieces: A single pool-party scene hosted by Al's soon-to-be mentor Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson) features Conan O'Brien, Jack Black, and about 17 other vaguely familiar faces playing everyone from Andy Warhol to Alice Cooper. Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson drops in as a wiggy, nonplussed Oprah, as does Lin-Manuel Miranda as an ER doctor who can't stop the beat.

The movie's celebrity whack-a-mole makes for a good drinking game, no doubt, but Radcliffe still has to carry most of the story, as gleefully careening and surreal as it is. And he commits admirably to the movie's full-tilt concept, conjuring a bizarro-world Al both brash and endearingly sincere (and disconcertingly CrossFit-ripped); he'll throw a man through a plate glass window and drink whiskey like it's water, but still come home to his parents' house for a chips-and-sandwich dinner.

The script, by Appel and the real Yankovic, who also appears briefly as a skeptical record executive, treats time as a flat circle, folding "Amish Paradise" into the events of 1985 — Coolio's original was actually released a full decade later — and putting Madonna's backup dancers in anachronistic cone bras years before they debuted in the real world. But that's all part of Weird's fast and loose comedy, an alternative-facts fever dream so bent on the certifiably ridiculous that it circles back around somehow, to sweetness. You don't need any of it, really, but as far as celebrity hagiographies go, you kind of can't beat it. Grade: B+
Click to expand...
I wanna see this

xUxZm3.jpg
 
By the 90's they hated his guts cause he took a popular charts topping song and just fucked it up with his version that was climbing.....I think they sat his ass down.

When I was really small I thought his MJ song who's fat was his song and all I could remember was his video and version of it til I learned better that it was an MJ song and it was "Bad"
 
ew.com

Daniel Radcliffe wants to keep playing the accordion after learning it for Weird Al movie

Since he's 'come so far with it,' Daniel Radcliffe wants to keep practicing the accordion after learning how to play it for 'Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.'
ew.com ew.com

Daniel Radcliffe wants to keep playing the accordion after learning it for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

"Maybe one day I'll be able to play a song with both hands at the same time."

By Maureen Lee LenkerSeptember 09, 2022 at 02:07 PM EDT






Daniel Radcliffe isn't going to let those accordion lessons go to waste.
The Harry Potter actor learned to play the uniquely difficult instrument so he could portray Weird Al Yankovic in the wildly inventive biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. He was even gifted an accordion by Yankovic himself when he finished the movie.
Though he still has a long way to go, he hopes to keep up with it, Radcliffe tells EW while sitting with us in our studio at the Toronto International Film Festival, where Weird made its world premiere.
"I'm not good at the accordion, but I've come so far with it relative to the nothing that I started at that it seems dumb to just stop playing completely," Radcliffe says. "I think I'm going to very gradually keep it up over the years, and maybe one day I'll be able to play a song with both hands at the same time."

Radcliffe got to spend time with the real Yankovic while making the film, as the musician was hands-on with the project. "It was very intimidating to be on set with him while we were making this movie about him — he's an incredibly generous, sweet guy," adds the actor. "He tried to valiantly to teach me the accordion and was generally very available."

Daniel Radcliffe in 'Weird: The Al Yankvoic Story'

| CREDIT: THE ROKU CHANNEL
Director Eric Appel says Yankovic was so devoted to the biopic that he participated in post-production sessions every day even while on tour. "He was on Zoom all day long from his tour bus," Appel recalls. 'All the way until he'd get onstage to perform, he'd be texting me. I'd start to respond and I'd get back, 'Oops, on stage'"

Part of the movie's sound mix includes a panoply of some of Yankovic's most beloved songs, as well as a new track he wrote for the end credits. Radcliffe says that made it difficult to get the ear-worms out of his head. "Every time we'd do a song on set, it would then remain in the entire crew's brain until we did the next song," he laughs. "I had a fairly decent head-start in [playing Al] in that I was fairly well acquainted with all the songs I'm singing in the movie."
Watch the video above for more. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will be available on The Roku Channel beginning Nov. 4.
 
I can’t wait to see this. The fact they made his biopic an actual parody is genius, since he made a living making parodies of popular songs.
 

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