Daniel Radcliffe made enough money from the Harry Potter movies that he could decide to not work for the rest of his life. Instead, he chooses to star in offbeat passion projects, and for that (and other reasons), we love him. Frankenstein’s assistant Igor? Yup. A farting corpse? Been there. A criminal mastermind in Now You See Me 2, the sequel to magician heist movie Now You See Me that I’m still annoyed wasn’t called Now You Don’t? Of course. For his next “sure, why not, I’m in” role, he’ll pick up an accordion.
Deadline reports that Radcliffe will play musician (and Uproxx‘s Person of the Year recipient) “Weird Al” Yankovic in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, a “Roku Original biopic from Funny or Die and Tango that will be available for streaming exclusively on The Roku Channel.” It was written by Eric Appel and Yankovic, who said in a statement, “I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”
The Yankovic biopic promises to 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.
“Weird Al” released his first album in 1983, and while he could have been quickly dismissed as a novelty act, he’s arguably as popular now as he’s ever been (his last album, 2014’s Mandatory Fun, was his first to debut at number one on the Billboard 200). As someone who grew up playing Bad Hair Day and Running with Scissors and watching UHF and The Weird Al Show on repeat, I can’t wait for the tongue-in-cheek biopic — as long as there’s a full 11 minutes dedicated to his best song, “Albuquerque.”
Also, let Radcliffe play Harvey the Wonder Hamster, too.
(Via Deadline)
