Harry Potter vet Daniel Radcliffe has officially signed on for the leading role in The Roku Channel’s next original film titled Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which centers around the prolific career of the titular award-winning musician and pop culture icon. Produced by Funny Or Die and Tango, the comedy biopic’s production is expected to begin in early February in Los Angeles.
“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 to say we’re on schedule,” Yankovic said in a statement. “And 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.”
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Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will be directed and executive produced by Eric Appel from a screenplay he co-wrote with Yankovic. It will follow the story of the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time, who have already won five Grammys.
“The biopic 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,” reads the synopsis. “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.”
This marks the second collaboration between Yankovic and Appel as they previously produced a Funny or Die movie trailer for Yankovic’s biopic eight years ago. The trailer featured Aaron Paul, Olivia Wilde, Gary Cole, Mary Steenburgen, and Patton Oswalt.
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“There clearly aren’t enough biopic movies about famous musicians and we were excited to shine a light on the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al,” Roku’s Head of Original Scripted Programming, Colin Davis said. “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.”
The project is produced by Funny Or Die and Tango. Producers are Yankovic, Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, and Whitney Hodack for Funny Or Die along with Tim Headington, Lia Buman, and Max Silva for Tango. Funny Or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah are also set as executive producers.
