Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Why Weird Al Picked Him for Biopic
As fans of the Harry Potter actor may know, Daniel Radcliffe has been cast in and will star in WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, an original biopic coming to Roku. Though his post-Potter career has been full of surprises and unique career choices, this might be one of the biggest headscratchers. Speaking in a new interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the host asked Radcliffe how exactly this came to be and it was just as much of a surprise for him as it was for all of us. Per Radcliffe, his audition apparently happened over a decade ago on a talk show appearance.
"So 13, 14 years ago, I sang a version of a Tom Lehrer song on The Graham Norton Show in the UK. I sang 'The Elements' next to Colin Farrell and a very bemused Rihanna," Radcliffe said. "I think he was just like, 'Who is this kid, and why is he singing all of 'The Elements'?' And I guess Al saw that and was like, 'This guy maybe gets it.' And so he picked me. So I'm very, very lucky, and now I've gotten to have accordion lessons with Al. I can go to my grave (with that)." You can find the video below.
About the film, Radcliffe added; "I'm rarely excited to see the stuff that I'm in, I'm very, very excited to see that. It is...I mean, you know, it's a fully insane movie. It's one of the most fun things I've ever done. I don't know when exactly it'll be out hopefully later this year -- but, you know, it's one to look forward to."
In the same interview, Radcliffe revealed a photo of him with Weird Al's actual accordion, which the Grammy winning musician leant to him for a month so that he could practice. Tragically Radcliffe broke one of the straps on it on the second day that he had it, but as he put it, "Thankfully, he's, like, the nicest guy. If he was furious about it, he kept it to himself.:
Telling the story of Yankovic's life, the film will also star Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, Toby Huss and Julianne Nicholson as Yankovic's parents, and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento. Eric Appel, who directed the Funny or Die parody video of the same name over a decade ago, directed the film and co-wrote it with Yankovic.