Daniel Radcliffe to star as ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic in Roku Original biopic

PTI, Jan 19, 2022, 10:15 AM IST

 Los Angeles : ”Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe is set to play ”Weird Al” Yankovic in the musician’s biopic, which will be a Roku Original project.

The film hails from production banners Funny or Die and Tango that will be available for streaming exclusively on The Roku Channel, reported Deadline.

A five-time Grammy winner, Yankovic is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time and is known for imitating and parodying the works of his musical contemporaries.

According to the makers, the biopic will be a no-holds-barred account of Yankovic’s life, from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ”Eat It” and ”Like a Surgeon”, also touching on his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.

Yankovic and Eric Appel penned the feature, which the latter will direct, after helming a short film of the same name for Funny Or Die in 2010.

Appel, known for directing episodes of series including ”Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and ”New Girl”, said one day Weird Al sat him down and narrated to him his unbelievable life story which he knew was a movie waiting to be made.

Yankovic, who also serves as producer, said he is thrilled that Radcliffe will portray him in the film that will go on to become ”the role future generations will remember him for”.

He added, ”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.” Colin Davis, Roku’s Head of Original Scripted Programming, said the streamer is excited to shine a light on ”the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al”.

”I am excited that my first project as the owner of Funny Or Die Studios is to help bring the story of ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic to the screen. ”Weird Al is a comic genius and his impact on pop culture, his mastery of the music video, his award-winning music and his incredible life are a perfect fit for the talented producers at FOD,” said Henry Munoz III, who serves as Funny Or Die’s chairman and executive producer.

Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Whitney Hodack are producing the film for Funny Or Die, and Tim Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva for Tango. Appel is executive producing with Munoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah. Production will begin in Los Angeles early next month. Radcliffe, who recently appeared in the HBO Max special ”Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts”, will next be seen playing an antagonist in the action-adventure comedy film ”The Lost City”.