Today in Short King News, it was announced that Daniel Radcliffe will star as Weird Al Yankovic in a biopic of the seminal comedian, musician, filmmaker, and polka legend for, of all places, the Roku Channel. (Did not know that Roku has a channel, but you learn something new every day.)
So… I’m making a movie.
— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) January 18, 2022
The film is called Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and it will “[take the audience] on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.” The script is co-written by Eric Appel and Yankovic himself, whose last feature film as a writer is the truly, sincerely, perfect cult classic, UHF. If Yankovic is coming off the bench to write his own life story, I will watch it.
As for DanRad’s casting, it’s perfect, divine, no complaints. He can do whatever the f-ck he wants. His taste in projects post-Harry Potter is approaching legendary status, from the “farting corpse movie” that is actually a very sweet and sincere exploration of survival and companionship, to the absolute perfection of Miracle Workers. Even when the projects turn out bad, like Victor Frankenstein and Now You See Me 2, DanRad’s performances are always interesting and, usually, very funny. Not unlike Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, DanRad made his bag and has been working to please himself ever since, in a range of projects and genres, and he has emerged as one of the most interesting actors of his cohort.
DanRad’s is not the name that leaps to mind when someone says, “Cast a Weird Al biopic,” but now that it has been said, of course, this is perfect casting. He can sing, he’s got solid comedic timing, and he’s got a livewire energy that ought to work well for Weird Al, who is as fanatical as he is funny. I am so into this, I will have to look into what a Roku Channel is, and how one obtains it. Crystals arranged under the moon? No idea. I’ve lost track of all the streaming services, and I bet you have, too. Who can keep up? There’s eleventy million of them.
Anyway, here’s that clip of DanRad voguing to “She’ll Be Comin’ Around the Mountain” again: