Daniel Radcliffe To Play 'Weird Al' Yankovic In Upcoming Biopic

Daniel Radcliffe is about to swap his magic wand for an accordion as he steps into the role of pop musics most prolific parodist.

The Harry Potter actor has been tapped to play Weird Al Yankovic in an upcoming biopic for the Roku Channel. According to press notes, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will explore every facet of Yankovics life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like Eat It and Like a Surgeon to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.

Director Eric Appel , whose credits includes episodes of The New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, co-wrote the films script with Yankovic. Production is set to begin in Los Angeles next month, though no release date was announced.

The Roku Channel announced the project with a short video teaser early Tuesday.

Things are about to get weird. Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in the all-new feature film WEIRD: The @AlYankovic Story, a Roku Original based on the career of the Grammy-winning musician and pop cultural icon. pic.twitter.com/ZNHOP3eJFv

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Things are about to get weird. Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in the all-new feature film WEIRD: The @AlYankovic Story, a Roku Original based on the career of the Grammy-winning musician and pop cultural icon. pic.twitter.com/ZNHOP3eJFv
The Roku Channel (@TheRokuChannel) January 18, 2022

Yankovic, meanwhile, shared the news in a short but succinct tweet.

So Im making a movie.

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So Im making a movie.
Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) January 18, 2022

And in a winking statement, the actor, singer and comedian said he was absolutely thrilled that Radcliffe had signed on to play him.

I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for, he quipped.

Colin Davis, Rokus head of original scripted programming, added that the streaming platform was 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, he added , and we could not be prouder to call this film a Roku Original.

A California native, Yankovic is a five-time Grammy winner and the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time. He rose to fame in the early 1980s when his parodies of Michael Jackson and Madonna hits made him a fixture on MTV.

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In more recent years, Yankovic has playfully skewered songs by Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga, often to the delight of the artists themselves. In 2014, his album Mandatory Fun became the first comedy album in history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboards Top 200 chart.

As for Radcliffe, the actor is set to return to the big screen this spring in The Lost City , which co-stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum.