With films like Swiss Army Man and Guns Akimbo under his belt, we know that Daniel Radcliffe is open to playing kooky roles from a farting corpse to a guy with guns for hands; so who better to play the absolute king of weird—Weird Al Yankovic?
The AV Club reports that Radcliffe has been cast to play “Weird Al” Yankovic in what is referred to as a ‘pseudo-biopic’ of the parody musician’s life. Yankovic actually wrote the script of the film will Eric Appel, and he had this to say about casting the Harry Potter alum to play him:
“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… 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.”
Yanovic’s writing partner Appel, was actually the same person behind the faux trailer Weird: The Al Yankovic Story which teases a dramatic biopic of Weird Al a la Walk Hard. Watch this:
We don’t know how fictional this movie can get, but I can imagine it’s a lot closer to Rocketman than Bohemian Rhapsody. Weird Al is such a unique figure in pop-culture, and I’m interested to see how this film plays out, no matter how deviated it gets from the truth.
No release date has been set for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but you can catch on the Roku Channel via Funny or Die and Tango.
