Last month, The Roku Channel announced that former Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe will star as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the upcoming biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. The project is going forward with the approval and participation of the real “Weird Al” Yankovic. Apparently, production is much further along than we previously believed. Today, The Roku Channel released the first picture of Radcliffe as the famous parodist.
In the pic, Radcliffe assumes the signature hair, glasses, Hawaiian shirt, and even iconic accordion of “Weird Al.” If we didn’t know that it was actually Radcliffe, we might have been fooled into thinking that this was a picture of the genuine man.
“Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly,” said Radcliffe in a statement. “And I’m honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life.”
The film is somewhat facetiously described as a biopic that will “hold nothing back and explore every facet of his life, from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon,’ while touching on his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.”
Funny or Die veteran Eric Appel is directing the film, and he co-wrote the script with Yankovic himself. Appel and Yankovic are also executive producing the movie alongside Mike Farah, Joe Farrell, Whitney Hodack, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Max Silva, Henry Muñoz III, and Neil Shah.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is currently shooting in Los Angeles and doesn’t have a release date at this time.
