Cory Pesaturo Playing In Weird Al Movie: “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”

November 1st 2022

Rita Davidson Barnea, Editor Accordion USA News

Video: Trailer of “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story had its world premiere at the Royal Alexandra Theatre during the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2022, and is scheduled to be released on The Roku Channel on November 4, 2022. All the accordion music that you will hear in the movie which is not played by Weird Al, will be performed by Cory Pesaturo.

How did Cory get this important part? Here is the sequence of events leading up to his performance in the musical score: In March 2022, Cory performed at the SCL (Society of Composers and Lyricists) Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles. Michael Boddicker, one of the executive producers, asked Cory to play there. If the name “Boddicker” is familiar to you, it is because Michael is Arlene Boddicker’s son and Michele Boddicker Scheffler’s brother, all prominent people in the accordion world. Arlene was a renowned accordion teacher from Iowa, former ATG President, and musical director and conductor of the Cedar Rapids Accordion Aces.

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After becoming oversaturated with the accordion constantly around him, Michael Boddicker decided to become a pianist, moved to LA, and became a legend in the world of synthesizer playing. Also a composer, Michael is a Board Member of SCL. Cory knows Michael from having performed various concerts in in LA over the years. For example, when Cory played at the Vivato Jazz Club, Michael heard him perform.

Michael Boddicker came to one of these concerts and thought of Cory to perform at the SCL awards. At the SCL awards, Cory met someone (who turned out to be the Weird Al movie’s composer) who said “After hearing everything that you are capable of tonight, I have a project you are perfect for but I can’t tell you (at that time) what it is.” But during this time, when Cory found out about the movie, he called Weird Al’s band and asked to be part of the film. The band members said they were almost certain that the music was already written and recorded. Cory thought he was out of luck, but then he received a call from the composers, Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg who said they had not completed composing the music and wanted him to play all accordion parts on the movie score. (Unknown to most because that is the last thing that is usually done in movie production. He asked Cory to play for the movie.)

Cory was asked to play the accordion music for the movie and went to LA to record the music. He played the tracks and the composer recognized his improvisational ability. They allowed Cory to have artistic license in recording, and Cory accomplished the recordings in two sessions.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is a 2022 American biographical parody film directed by Eric Appel from a screenplay he co-wrote with “Weird Al” Yankovic. The film, a satire of biopics and loosely based on Yankovic’s life and career, stars Daniel Radcliffe as Yankovic, along with Evan Rachel Wood, Rainn Wilson, Toby Huss, Julianne Nicholson, and Quinta Brunson in supporting roles.

Photo below: In the film credits

Make sure you see “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”.