“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story,” Appel said, “I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”
“Weird Al” Yankovic is finally getting his own biopic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, with none other than Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe playing the “Eat It” singer.
Yankovic penned the screenplay alongside Eric Appel, who is also directing and executive producing the movie. The film will be available exclusively on The Roku Channel, with Funny Or Die and Tango producing, and filming begins in February in Los Angeles. Funny enough, Funny or Die, Yankovic, and Appel produced a fake trailer back in 2010 for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and instead of Radcliffe, Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul was set to star as Yankovic.
“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.”
The description for the biopic says it “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. 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.”
“When Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story,” Appel said, “I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”
“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.”
Yankovic recently announced his upcoming, 133-date The Unfortunate Return Of The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour, which he is opening on April 26.
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