Weird Al Always Knew Daniel Radcliffe Was The Right Actor To Cast For Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Perhaps one of the most surprising films of the year has been "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," which was recently released through the Roku Channel. The film serves as both a somewhat-biographical account of "Weird Al" Yankovic's life and a parody of biopics in general. It received extremely positive reviews, garnering an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a lot of praise directed at Daniel Radcliffe's performance as the title character and the film's handling of satire in general.
When it came to the process of casting Yankovic, however, there are surely many different directions the film could have gone in. Actor Aaron Paul played the role in the original Funny or Die fake trailer released in 2010, and it wouldn't have been hard to imagine them bringing him back again for the role. However, it seems as if the real-life Yankovic always sort of knew that he wanted Radcliffe to play him in a film, and he has a very specific reason for why that is the case.
Weird Al thought that Daniel Radcliffe had the right skillset to play him
During a recent interview with The View, "Weird Al" Yankovic talked about the process of making "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," his parody biographical film, and he divulged that Daniel Radcliffe was always his first choice to portray him in the film. The reasoning for this was very clear to him, as Radcliffe could inhabit both the dramatic aspects of a role and bring comedy into something that called for it. But there was also another large appeal that endeared Yankovic to the "Harry Potter" star: nerdiness.
"I just thought he had the right attitude and he had the right skills," Yankovic said. "I knew that he was a fan of Tom Lehrer, who is one of my musical comedy heroes." After figuring this out, he came to the conclusion that Radcliffe was just as nerdy as himself. He went on to praise Radcliffe's acting abilities, saying, "On top of that, I mean, he's an amazing comedic actor and an amazing dramatic actor. Which was important, because it's obviously a comedy movie but we're not playing it like a comedy movie."
This strategy seems to have paid off for both Yankovic and the makers of the film — if its reception is anything to go by. Radcliffe really seemed to embrace the role, and the inherent silliness of it all, while also injecting just the right amount of drama when the script called for it. It's clear that Radcliffe continues to thrive outside of "Harry Potter" and has found a niche for himself as an indie actor willing to take on as many various roles as he can get his hands on.