For the past 40 years, “Weird” Al Yankovic has created dozens of parodies of hit songs. The newbiopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” takes viewers on a journey through Al’s life (taking many creative liberties along the way).
Daniel Radcliffe stars as Al alongside Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna (who in this story, is Al’s girlfriend). Director and co-writer Eric Appel says Radcliffe committed to the role as soon as he was presented with the idea.
“By the end of our first conversation he was already asking Al what kind of accordion he should buy to begin practicing,” Appel told 1A. “Just on the off chance this movie would eventually be greenlit.”
The film features a who’s who of Hollywood stars. Lin Manuel Miranda plays a doctor. Patton Oswalt is a concert attendee and Will Forte is a record label manager.
Yankovic explained a lot of the film follows the story of his real life, but that he needed to zhuzh the story line up.
“I lead a pretty safe boring life. To make a movie about my life, you have to ramp it up a little bit,” Yankovic told 1A.
We speak to Weird Al and Eric Appel about the reception “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is getting from fans old and new.
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