“Things are about to get weird.”
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will play the king of parody and Grammy award winner ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in an upcoming biopic, it has been revealed.
The feature film, to be titled, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, promises to explore the bizarre life of the greatest-selling comedy recording artist in history.
The Roku Channel announced the project with a short teaser on Twitter on Wednesday, hyping the “truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time”.
Tweet from @TheRokuChannel
“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,” Yankovic 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.”
Director Eric Appel was equally effusive about helming the biopic.
“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it,” he said.
Yankovic, a five-time Grammy winner, is one of only three artists to make Billboard’s top 40 hits in all of the past four decades.
Michael Jackson and Madonna are the others.
Known and beloved for parodying the works of his musical contemporaries, Yankovic is also the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time.
His 2014 album, Mandatory Fun, was the first comedy album in history to debut at No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart.
The pop culture icon has racked up nearly 200 screen credits – which earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018 – appearing as himself or lending his voice to everything from BoJack Horseman to 30 Rock, as well as hosting his own series, The Weird Al Show, in 1997.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will explore “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,” Roku said in a statement.
Not a bad story arc – from shy, accordion-playing teenager sending home-made tapes to the Dr. Demento radio show, to a career spanning 14 albums, numerous compilations, a box set, movies, videos and edible underwear.
The film, written by Yankovic and director Eric Appel, will begin production in February.
