Talk about Weird: streaming flick Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a star-studded satire based on the “unexaggerated true story,” of parody songsmith “Weird Al” Yankovic’s meteoric rise.
Yankovic himself was inspired to do the bonkers project — based on a dramatic fake 2010 movie trailer about his life from Eric Appel (Weird’s director) — by celebrity biopics such as Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody. “They would play around with the facts for dramatic purpose, and that really bothered me,” Yankovic says. “I thought, ‘Maybe I should do a biopic but just have it go completely off the rails.’”
Yankovic, also a producer, even cast his younger self — Harry Potter vet Daniel Radcliffe — and gave the actor accordion lessons. Also appearing in the film are Abbott Elementary star/creator Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, and Rainn Wilson as Yankovic’s mentor Dr. Demento.
The movie covers everything from “Eat It” (featuring Yankovic’s real jacket from the 1984 music video) to a wild restaurant fight scene. Yankovic teases: “By the end, it’s just nuts.”
WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, Movie Premiere, Friday, November 4, The Roku Channel