Well, this is weird.
I mean, I guess it’s supposed to be, in which case it is right on, but a chiseled Daniel Radcliffe dressed up as “Weird Al” Yankovic and shredding an accordion while dancing topless and swilling whiskey straight from the bottle as the crowd goes wild is just so weird.
Radcliffe is playing Yankovic in the upcoming biopic “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” due out this fall.
Let me guess: Your next question is, “Why?”
Honestly, I don’t know.
And the next: “How did this even happen?”
That I do know.
Yankovic (the executive producer and co-writer) once saw Radcliffe on the emotionally manipulative but wildly hysterical Graham Norton Show and Norton brought up Radcliffe’s love of music. Radcliffe, ever the good sport, let himself be pressured into performing, so he sang Tom Lehrer’s rager, “The Elements.” If you haven’t seen the clip, you can watch it here.
Yankovic saw something special in Radcliffe that night, and when he decided to make this film, Radcliffe is where his mind turned. There were a few other contenders (like Aaron Paul from “Breaking Bad”) but never very seriously. It was always Radcliffe.
So, Radcliffe donned Yankovic’s obligatory Hawaiian-print shirt, busted out a short afro wig, learned music and lyrics for 150 song parodies, grabbed an accordion and never looked back. Which is great for us because it is very funny.
Yankovic loves the work Radcliffe did, but now it’s all up to us to decide if this “Dare To Be Stupid” is “Close, But No Cigar
Watch the trailer here:
