Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Cast Took Their Unserious Story Seriously

The upcoming movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is parody squared. It supposedly tells the true story of the parody songwriter “Weird Al” Yankovic, however just about all of it’s full bullpucky. It’s a farce of music biopics that stretch the reality with a view to inform a extra participating story. From what filmmakers have proven to date, it appears to be This Is Spinal Tap meets Anchorman. 

Yankovic wasn’t at New York Comic Con in particular person however he live-streamed into the packed-to-the-gills panel crowd Sunday night. He stated that he was actively engaged each day on set, serving to produce the movie he helped co-write. Apparently it was all palms on deck throughout filming, which befell over an extremely brief time period. “The entire 18 days of production was just so bizarre,” he informed the assembled crowd. “We were recreating moments that are just a little bit exaggerated. It was like seeing some bizarro home movie.”

The film leads additionally confirmed off an unique clip of the upcoming film to con-goers. It takes place at a pool celebration hosted by Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson, of The Office fame) that options quite a few comedy stars filling out the roles of main leisure figures from the late Nineteen Seventies and ‘80s, including Divine (Nina West), Andy Warhol (Conan O’Brien), and—as Jack Black dressed as disc jockey Wolfman Jack put it—“the guy from Queen.” Daniel Radcliffe’s Weird Al has to provide you with a music parody on the spot or else lose the respect of those main stars. Pulling out his fabled accordion, Al crafts the music “Another One Rides the Bus.”

Apparently, getting all these huge title actors in a single place required Yankovic to run down his contacts record and ask mates he’d made through the years in the event that they’d be all in favour of dressing up for a day. Clearly, there have been quite a lot of well-known of us in Hollywood keen to reply their telephone.

It’s emblematic of Weird Al’s legacy that the inventive minds behind the movie appear to be doing a spoof of music biopics in the identical vein as latest motion pictures like Rocketman or Bohemian Rhapsody. Still, that doesn’t imply the actors had been essentially able to let the foolish nature of the anti-documentary give them a cross, at the least in accordance with their statements on the panel. Radcliffe, who wears an actual mustache and faux ‘fro to look like the titular parody song writer, said he was initially surprised he got the role since he bears little resemblance to Yankovic. That was until he read the script, and learned that indeed, there was little about the film that matched real life.

When Radcliffe was jokingly asked “So what did you do to prepare for this role, go to a accordion store?”, his reply was “Actually, yes”—and he explained how he got his hands on Yankovic’s prized instrument so he may begin training, the higher to not be a drag on that fast filming schedule.

Evan Rachel Wood, who performs Madonna, stated she researched a mess of ‘80s-era Madonna interviews; in this version, the pop icon seems to take Al down a spiral of drink, drugs, and music superstardom. Of course, none of that happened in real life, according to Yankovic. Apparently, that whole aspect of the story was extrapolated from an offhand comment Madonna supposedly made to a manager, asking “I wonder when Weird Al is going to do ‘Like a Surgeon’?”—primarily based on her hit “Like a Virgin.” (As historical past reminds us, he launched it in 1985, one yr after her music.) When requested whether or not the filmmakers had been apprehensive what Madonna may take into consideration her portrayal, Yankovic joked, “Well, she’s not on my Christmas card list… we took this nugget of truth and expanded it into this whole psychotic arc that takes up the whole rest of the movie.”

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story premieres November 4 on the Roku Channel.

Want extra io9 information? Check out when to anticipate the most recent Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on movie and TV, and every part it’s worthwhile to find out about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.