- Film And TV
- 18 Jan 22
'Weird: The Al Yankovich Story' will be available exclusively on The Roku Channel.
Daniel Radcliffe is set to star as "Weird Al" Yankovic in an upcoming biopic, according to the comic himself.
Yankovic, the five-time Grammy winning musician has written and co-produced Weird: The Al Yankovic Story along with director Eric Appel.
The description for the feature reads: "It 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."
Funny or Die and Tango are producing the film, which is set to start filming in early February.
“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.”
Appel added, “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.”
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Appel wrote and directed a trailer for a fake Yankovic biopic of the same name in 2013 starring Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul. It included appearances from Olivia Wilde, Gary Cole, Patton Oswald, Mary Steenburgen, Paul Sheer, and Yankovic.
The film will be released exclusively on The Roku Channel.
“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',” said Colin Davis, Roku’s head of original scripted programming. “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.”
Photo by: D Dipasupil—Getty Images