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Daniel Radcliffe says playing Weird Al Yankovic is a huge responsibility

Daniel Radcliffe is set to star as Weird Al Yankovic in a new Roku-produced biopic — but he isn't taking his role as the musical satirist lightly

wierd al daniel radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe has shared more about how it feels to don the iconic Hawaiian shirt as filming for the comedy movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story gets underway.

Speaking to People Magazine, the 32-year-old actor — who found fame for playing Harry Potter in the acclaimed fantasy movie franchise of the same name — said, “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 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life”

He also shared a first-look picture from the musical movie with the outlet, where he can be seen complete with glasses, an afro and a Hawaiian shirt intently playing an accordion piano. Yankovic is a popular musical satirist who found fame in the 80s after producing parodies of popular songs. A multi-Grammy award winner, Yankovic has seen explosive success over the years. For example, his song ‘Eat It,’ a spin on Michael Jackson’s hit song ‘Beat It,’ charted on the Billboard Top 40.

Radcliffe’s casting as Yankovic was announced in January 2022. He is currently the only cast member announced, with People reporting that filming is currently taking place in Los Angeles.

While Yankovic has big shoes to fill, this isn’t Radcliffe’s first foray into comedy. In 2016, he starred as a farting corpse (no really) in the adventure movie Swiss Army Man. He’s also been praised for his role as neurotic angel Craig in TBS series Miracle Workers, the first season of which is available to view on Amazon Prime Video. 

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is directed by  Eric Appel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Yankovic. It’s a feature-length version of a 2010 sketch, which had Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul starring as Yankovic. The film is being made for the streaming service The Roku Channel.