"Be as weird as you want to be," says Daniel Radcliffe as five-time Grammy winner "Weird Al" Yankovic in the newly-released trailer for Roku's upcoming biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.
The comedy-drama will release November 4 on the Roku Channel, following its world premiere September 8 at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. The 108-minute movie follows the pop culture icon through various stages of his career, including the creation of his accordion-accompanied single "My Bolonga" (parodied from "My Sharona" by The Knack) and his first-meet with "Like A Prayer" singer Madonna (played by Evan Rachel Wood).
Radcliffe made his Broadway debut in a 2008 revival of Equus, and went on to star in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and The Lifespan of a Fact. The Harry Potter actor will return to the NYC stage November 21 in an Off-Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at New York Theatre Workshop, alongside Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez.
In an earlier statement, "Weird Al" said, "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."
The California-born musician is best known for his comedic songs and parodies of radio hits, including "Like a Virgin" by Madonna, "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, and even a few from Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.
Back in 2018, "Weird Al" was featured in Miranda's Hamildrop series with the song "The Hamilton Polka" featuring the artist reimagining tunes from the musical, such as "The Room Where It Happens," "The Schuyler Sisters," "My Shot," and "Wait For It." He was also featured in an episode of Rachel Bloom's comedy My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, where he sang the ditty "There's No Bathroom" to stage actor Skylar Astin.
Starring alongside Radcliffe and Wood is Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento, Toby Huss as Nick Yankovic, and Julianne Nicholson as Mary Yankovic.
Yankovic and Eric Appel penned the script, with direction and executive producing by Appel. It is produced by Funny Or Die and Tango, with Yankovic, Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, Whitney Hodack, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Max Silva as producers and Henry Muñoz III and Neil Shah as executive producers.
Also coming to The Roku Channel is the filmed stage performance of Heathers: The Musical. The cult favorite will drop in the U.S. and Canada as a Roku Original September 16.
