Radcliffe Gets ‘Weird’ – And Shirtless – In Trailer For Roku’s Weird Al Yankovic Biopic
Daniel Radcliffe is getting Weird.
The 32-year-old actor, best known as Harry Potter, has played Igor in Victor Frankenstein, a corpse in Swiss Army Man, and the mustache-twirling villain in The Lost City, is making yet another interesting career choice by playing genial accordion-playing song parodist “Weird” Al Yankovic in Roku’s upcoming biopic.
The streamer released a trailer for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Tuesday at its 2022 NewFronts presentation. The clip shows Radcliffe strutting shirtless (and very fit!) across a stage in front of a crowd of thousands as he performs hits like “Like a Surgeon,” pausing only to guzzle something and spit it out in true rock star fashion.
There’s plenty of hot accordion action in the teaser, and Radcliffe sports Yankovic’s trademark mop of curls, a mustache and a predilection for Hawaiian shirts. Radcliffe has adopted an American accent for the role, he doesn’t appear to be copying Yankovic’s own speech patterns, though.
The movie looks to be a parody itself – not of Weird Al, but of celebrity biopics. According to a press release, the film “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.”
The film was first announced in January, and is written by both Yankovic and Eric Appel. In a statement at the time, Yankovic said he was “absolutely thrilled” about Radcliffe’s casting.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for,” he said.
Weird also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, Rainn Wilson as radio personality Dr. Demento; and Julianne Nicholson and Toby Huss as Yankovic’s parents, Mary and Nick.
Yankovic, has won five Grammys and is the best-selling comedy recording artist of all time. The musician’s 2014 release Mandatory Fun was the first comedy album in history to debut at number one on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. Yankovic has produced numerous other hits including “White & Nerdy,” “Another One Rides the Bus” and “Smells Like Nirvana.”
The film is set to be released later this year on The Roku Channel.