Daniel Radcliffe claims that the upcoming Roku biopic film WEIRD: The ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Story will be just as strange as Swiss Army Man. Weird Al Yankovic is an icon in the music industry best known for his hilarious musical parodies of hit songs. The five-time Grammy-winning artist announced that he would be working on a biopic film about himself by simply tweeting “So… I’m making a movie.” Weird Al is set to co-write the film alongside Eric Appel, who will also be directing the Roku comedy. Radcliffe is set to star in the film as Weird Al and will be joined by the likes of Evan Rachel Wood and Rainn Wilson.
Radcliffe is best known for his role as the titular character of the Harry Potter franchise, who he portrayed for nearly a decade. However, since 2010, Radcliffe has opted to star in much more weird films with unique roles such as Horns, Swiss Army Man, and Guns Akimbo rather than something more mainstream such as when he played Harry Potter. When it was announced that Radcliffe had landed the starring role in the ultimate “weird” film, fans were absolutely ecstatic. Weird Al himself was behind the casting decision and has claimed that he is “absolutely thrilled” that Radcliffe will be portraying him in the biopic.
As reported on by IndieWire, in a recent interview with the New York Times to promote the film, Radcliffe stated that the film has some truly bizarre scenes in it. After filming one scene, Radcliffe confessed to Weird Al that it was one of the weirdest things he’s ever done. The actor compared the moment to Paul Dano using him as a Jet Ski in Swiss Army Man. Check out Radcliffe’s full comment below.
“I did one shot the other day and Al walked up to me afterward and was like, ‘Is that the weirdest thing you’ve ever had to do?’ I was like, ‘It’s top two, with the only other one being Paul Dano riding me like a Jet Ski at the beginning of ‘Swiss Army Man‘”.
In Swiss Army Man, Radcliffe played the role of a farting corpse that worked as a sort of multitool for the film’s protagonist. This is of course an incredibly odd role, but the fact that parallels are being drawn to a biopic makes for a very interesting discussion as to what lengths the film may go to put the “Weird” in Weird Al Yankovic. Considering Weird Al’s history with film, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that this film is going to be strange. Weird Al co-wrote the 1984 film UHF which is an incredibly bizarre film about a man running a TV station that has gone on to become a cult classic due to its strangeness.
The news beginning to emerge surrounding this film seems to imply that it may be one of the most unique and endearing biopics to ever be released. Although it sounds like the movie’s weirdness will live up to its name, Radcliffe has stated that he is taking his role seriously. Radcliffe has even gone as far as to learn the accordion for this starring role. Hearing how committed the cast and crew of this film are can only mean good things for the project. With the filming of WEIRD: The ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Story just recently concluding, it is speculated that the biopic will release in late 2022 or early 2023.
Source: New York Times (via IndieWire)
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