When Warner Bros. Pictures
adapted J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books into film, they cast British child
actor Daniel Radcliffe for the title role. The first film released in 2001, and
the movie series lasted until 2011. In that decade, audiences and fans saw
Radcliffe grow into a solid young star. He was also determined not to be
remembered solely as The Boy Who Lived. He got plenty of attention when joining
the cast of a theatrical revival for the play “Equus” which ran 2007-09 from
West End to Broadway. Radcliffe continues to look for challenging roles. Who
would have thought that it would include portraying America’s most famous
parody singer-songwriter?
Variety tells us that Daniel Radcliffe has been cast to play Weird
Al Yankovic in “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” a biopic original film to stream
on Roku. Yankovic himself is co-writer for the movie’s story with director Eric
Appel, for a production under Funny Or Die and Tango. This is the first original
biopic being done for The Roku Channel, an exclusive streaming hub by the
digital media player company which was expanded last year when Roku acquired
the library of mobile streaming platform Quibi following its 2020 shutdown.
With reputations of being both
the most famous boy wizard in film and a guy who got naked with a horse in
stage theatre, Radcliffe’s acting credentials make him seem apparently
qualified to take on the role of Weird Al. While Yankovic to the general public
is a famed musical parodist (turning Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” to “Eat It”
for instance), he also had a quirky private life, including multiple celebrity
affairs. While appearing in many films, Weird Al’s sole starring/written movie
had been 1989’s “UHF,” a box-office bomb and later cult classic. Yankovic claims
in a statement that “Weird” on Roku falls 33 years after “UHF,” following his
supposed pledge to space his motion picture productions in that period.
In any case, Weird Al Yankovic is
happy that Daniel Radcliffe is playing him on “Weird,” claiming that this would
overwrite the latter’s fame in “Harry Potter” and “Equus.” Roku Head of
Original Scripted Programming Colin Davis is also positive with the prospects
of the biopic, both in Yankovic writing his own life story and Radcliffe
bringing it to life. 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,” says Davis in
interview.
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is
expected to begin production in Los Angeles by February.
Image: New York Times
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