It has been only 18 days since Roku’s upcoming Al Yankovic biopic started cameras rolling, but today the man himself announced that WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story has officially wrapped. Back in January, it was announced that Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe would be taking on the role of the eccentric musician and comedian in the story of his rise to fame through his parody songs such as Like a Surgeon and Eat It, and after just over two weeks of filming, it looks like Yankovic’s life is in the can.
While the movie promises to delve into Yankovic’s “torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle”, in his 30+ years in the industry, the star has managed to avoid facing any big scandals and bad press, other than an occasional grumble from some of the singers whose songs he has mercilessly re-written over the decades. Writing on his Twitter account, Yankovic said:
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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A post shared by “Weird Al” Yankovic (@alfredyankovic)
In the last few weeks, there have been a number of images released to whet the appetite of Al Yankovic fans everywhere, including shots of Radcliffe on set with big hair and a loud shirt and Evan Rachel Wood in the guise of Madonna. While there has been very little detailed information about the movie’s content, what has been seen so far is certainly intriguing enough to grab attention when it releases exclusively on The Roku Channel.
“We just finished SHOOT DAY #18, and ladies and gentlemen, that is officially a WRAP on #WEIRDTheAlYankovicStory. Everybody involved with this movie absolutely killed it, and I can’t wait for the world to see this thing. #OscarBait #OscarsSoWEIRD,”
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A post shared by “Weird Al” Yankovic (@alfredyankovic)
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WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story Will See The Comedian Keep His Movie Promise to Fans
Orion Pictures
The new movie claims to “take audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time." After co-writing the movie with director Eric Appel, 62-year-old Yankovic is looking forward to having Daniel Radcliffe playing him, and more importantly, keeping a very non-serious promise that, according to him, he made to his fans many years ago.
“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule,” Yankovic joked in an interview previously.
Roku has not been in the spotlight much when it comes to their original movies and shows, but WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story is one of those movies that has the stars and the story behind it to draw in viewers who are just a little curious about the life of Yankovic. Colin Davis, Head of Original Scripted Programming at Roku, said in a press release, “There clearly aren’t enough biopic movies about famous musicians and we were excited to shine a light on the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al. This is sincerely the ultimate combination of talent, creativity and friends, coming together to make something genuinely funny and we could not be prouder to call this film a Roku Original.”
With filming done on the movie, there is now a possibility that it could premiere before the end of the year, but if not should debut sometime in early 2023.
