‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’: Daniel Radcliffe To Portray Grammy Winner In Roku Biopic From Funny Or Die & Tango
18.01.2022 - 17:03
/ deadline.com
Daniel Radcliffe (The Lost City, Harry Potter franchise) has been tapped to play musician “Weird Al” Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a Roku Original biopic from Funny or Die and Tango that will be available for streaming exclusively on The Roku Channel.
Yankovic and Eric Appel penned the feature, with the latter Funny or Die alum set to direct, after helming a short film of the same name for the production company back in 2010. Production will kick off in Los Angeles early next month.
Known for pastiching and parodying the works of his musical contemporaries, Yankovic is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time. A five-time Grammy winner, his 2014 release Mandatory Fun was the first comedy album in history to debut at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200. He is one of only three artists to land top 40 hits in each of the last four decades—the others being Michael Jackson and Madonna.
The Yankovic biopic promises to hold nothing back and explore every facet of his life, from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon,” while touching on his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. Yankovic is producing alongside Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Whitney Hodack for Funny Or Die, and Tim Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva for Tango. Appel is exec producing with Funny Or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah.
“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it,” admitted Appel, “but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”
“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