Update – Wednesday, May 4th
Grab your accordion and your loudest button-up shirt, because the first teaser trailer for Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story is here. Fittingly, it’s, well, pretty fucking weird.
We were given our first glimpse of Daniel Radcliffe in a perfectly-permed wig and 80s moustache as the Weird Al Yankovic himself back in February. Now we get to see his oddball acting chops busting it out with some real polka power for the upcoming biopic.
Clap your eyes around this one and ponder with me: did Daniel Radcliffe get fucking ripped for this role? And why am I strangely horny for him all abs out in leather pants drinking spirits straight from the bottle?
The teaser trailer is soundtracked by Weird Al’s 1986 hit “Like A Surgeon”, which parodies the Madonna banger “Like A Virgin”. The trailer flashes through the moustachioed Dan-Rad playing packed-out gigs, freaking out over a freshly-cut record, storming into a record label office and possibly getting into a fight with a chef at a diner?
Lord knows what this “untold true story” of a film is going to bring. But I’m more than sure it’s going to be absolutely bonkers.
Can’t wait.
Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story is set to release later this year on the Roku Channel in the US. We’ll let you know how we’ll be able to watch it over here in Australia as soon as we find out.
If you somehow managed to miss it, Daniel Radcliffe is flexing his strange acting muscles again for a biopic on Weird Al Yankovic, of all people. It’s been a task to try and mentally envision Radcliffe as the Hawaiian shirt-wearing, accordion-playing eccentric ever since the casting news dropped but now we have been given our first official look at the film’s leading weirdo.
The first official photo of Radcliffe in WEIRD: The Weird Al Yankovic Story was shared by The Roku Channel on Wednesday. It shows his run at Weird Al in full polka power form, playing his accordion at a live show in a delightfully loud shirt. Radcliffe’s also sporting a tight curly wig and the moustache and glasses combo that immediately dates it to some time in the 1980s.
Daniel Radcliffe is @alyankovic. Your first look at #WEIRD is here 🪗 pic.twitter.com/m9BBZndorA
— The Roku Channel (@TheRokuChannel) February 22, 2022
“Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly, and I’m honoured to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 per cent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life,” Radcliffe said in a statement about WEIRD.
While this all looks very professional and crisp, the real comedy is in the pap shots that made their way to the internet over the weekend. In the on-set photos, we’re treated to glimpses of Radcliffe in full Yankovic garb chatting away to the parody king himself.
This makes me happy! Daniel Radcliffe dressed as a young Weird Al, hanging out with the real Weird Al! pic.twitter.com/CM0GX37vhW
— ⭐️Jonathan Scott ⭐️ (@jonscott1983) February 22, 2022
Can we take one moment to consider that wig? Why does it look like he’s pulled it out fo the back corner of an over-stocked $2 shop? What is going on here???
Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al kinda just looks like if Hogwarts hired a pizza maker pic.twitter.com/4XvszW1UWV
— Dan LaMorte (@DanLaMorte) February 21, 2022
I know Weird Al is a master in the art of parody, but this looks like a parody of him to be perfectly honest.
Credit where credit’s due, the film’s director Eric Appel didn’t get overtly pissy about the pap shots that emerged at the weekend. Instead, he made a deliciously sassy tweet about how this is *exactly* how he wanted everyone to see Radcliffe as Weird Al for the first time.
So happy that people are first seeing Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al the way I intended them to – in the basecamp parking lot, partially costumed and shot with a telephoto lens from across the street.
— Eric Appel (@erockappel) February 20, 2022
Who knows how much weirder things are about to get as we get more glimpses of Daniel Radcliffe as Weird Al Yankovic in all his permed hair and Hawaiian shirt glory in this film. But between you and me, I’m hoping WEIRD gives a look into how the fuck Al penned “Albuquerque”, the greatest song of all fkn time.
