If the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the upcoming musical biopic about the accordion-tickling parody artist hasn’t piqued your interest, the first trailer might do Strange: The Al Yankovic Story Will. Radcliffe goes all out as a Yankovic in his early ’80s heyday for Roku’s streaming channel, which is what you can do when you have leftover Harry Potter to cushion your most creative endeavors.
Strange: The Al Yankovic Story “Holds nothing back,” says Roku of his original film about the Grammy-winning artist, “from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon,’ to his torrid celebrity romances and his famously depraved Lifestyle.” Yes, everyone is having a good time here.
The teaser trailer doesn’t reveal much; As Yankovic, Radcliffe performs parodies, mashes the accordion, and models a variety of brightly colored Hawaiian shirts. Shirt rejecters get their money’s worth, too: Radcliffe looks more tattered than “Weird Al” ever did (if not prosthetically reinforcedThis is).
Joining Radcliffe in his Weird Al biopic are Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Denial to see. Al Yankovic and Eric Appel wrote the film. Appel directs and his credits include television series such as new girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nineand NTSF:SD:SUV.
Here’s a quote from Weird Al about the film about himself: “As my last film UHF When it came out in 1989, I solemnly swore to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I am very happy to say that we are on schedule. And I’m absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe is going to play me in the film. I have no doubt that this is the role that future generations will remember him for.”
Strange: The Al Yankovic Story is coming to the Roku Channel sometime this fall, giving you plenty of time to figure out what that channel is.
