Daniel Ratcliffe, popular Harry Potter star and Broadway actor, will wear a Hawaiian shirt and perm for the Roku Original, “WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story.” Radcliffe’s casting was announced earlier this month for The Roku Channel’s biopic of “Weird Al”, who is known for hilarious songs like “Trapped in the Drive-Thru.” The movie will focus on the prolific career of Weird Al, Grammy winning musician and pop cultural icon. It will be Roku’s first original biopic. WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story is currently filming in Los Angeles. The film will be available exclusively for free on The Roku Channel.

Daniel said, “Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly,” Radcliffe, told People, “and I’m honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life.”

According to a press release, “The biopic holds nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic’s 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.” Eric Appel will direct from Yankovic’s script, which he co-wrote. Appel commented, “when Weird Al first sat me down against my will and told me his life story, I didn’t believe any of it, but I knew that we had to make a movie about it.”

Yankovic shared that he is “absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying” him in the film, joking of the British actor, “I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.” Roku Head of Original Scripted Programming Colin Davis joked in the press release, “There clearly aren’t enough biopic movies about famous musicians and we were excited to shine a light on the incredibly true, unexaggerated story of Weird Al.” He finished his statement on a more serious note, saying “this is sincerely the ultimate combination of talent, creativity, and friends, coming together to make something genuinely funny and we could not be prouder to call this film a Roku Original.”

Weird Al is on a 133 date tour of the USA. His future performances include:
April 26, Poughkeepsie, NY, Bardavon Opera House
April 27, Albany, NY, The Egg
April 29, New Bedford, MA, Zeiterion Performing Arts Center
April 30, Orono, ME, Collins Center for the Arts
May 1, hampton beach, NH, Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
May 3, Portland, ME, Merrill Auditorium
May 4, New London, CT, Garde Arts Center
May 6, Medford, MA, Chevalier Theatre
May 7, Medford, MA, Chevalier Theatre
May 8, Burlington, VT, The Flynn
May 10, Ridgefield, CT, Ridgefield Playhouse

Three terrific books about Al were released in 2020 – “The Weird Accordion to Al” by Nathan Rabin, “Weird Al Seriously” by Lily Hirsch, and “Black & White & Weird All Over” by Al’s longtime drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz!

Al is comedy and music all rolled into funny performances!