Daniel Radcliffe and Evan Rachel Wood on the new Weird Al biopic and ‘doing something crazy’
When a relatively unknown streaming platform announced it was making a biopic film of parody king Weird Al Yankovic – there was really only one man for the job.
It was revealed Daniel Radcliffe had signed on to play the musician soon after, joining actors such as Rami Malek and Taron Egerton who have starred as real-life performers in biopics in recent years.
Though unlike Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, this biopic is a parody – a reimagining of Yankovic’s life with everything from jumping into bed with Madonna, to wielding machine guns in South American drug dens.
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Speaking to Backstage, the TV and film podcast from Sky News, Radcliffe said he didn’t feel pressure playing Weird Al.
“There was something quite liberating for us about how different the people we’re playing are from their real-life counterparts,” he explained.
“You know, if I had been walking off set, and it was a ‘Serious Al’ biopic, I’m sure I would have been looking at Al every time and being like, ‘Oh, is he happy with that?’ Like, ‘is that moment we’ve recreated alright?’
“But, you know, when I’m walking down the table, letting loose with a machine gun, it definitely gives you a lot of licence to go ‘we’re just we’re doing something crazy and different’.
“If somebody played me as a crazy person, I’d be delighted.”
Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood, who plays a scheming Madonna, added: “I would have had to have gone to a boot camp if I was really doing her.”
She was referring to the rumours that actresses vying to play the Ray Of Light singer in her own biopic had to go through a gruelling dancing and singing bootcamp.
Evan Rachel Wood in Weird. Pic: Roku
Instead, Wood “watched as many interviews and videos as I could and then thought, ‘great, now just turn her into a raging sociopath, and we’re there'”.
The movie was made in a miniscule amount of time, with filming taking just 18 days in early 2022.
Not only that, but it packs in cameos in just about every single scene – from the likes of Jack Black and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to Conan O’Brien and Weird Al himself.
Plus factor in musical performances in kitchens, all the way up to stadiums – this shoot could not have been easy.
However, the breakneck speed of production wasn’t a barrier, Radcliffe told Backstage, saying instead it felt “amazing”.
“It was the fastest shoot I’ve ever done. It was amazing – it was so well-prepared, that you did feel like you were basically getting enough time for everything and everyone came in super prepared.
“Everyone came in also and realised very quickly, ‘oh, we’re getting like two, maybe three takes of everything. And that’s just that’s what it is, and you can’t be too precious about it’.
“The vibe on set was just… it did feel very celebratory all the time. There was no one on set that was indifferent to Al’s work.”
Evan Rachel Wood and Daniel Radcliffe in Weird. Pic: Roku
For Wood and Radcliffe – maybe in a few years we’d see films about their illustrious careers, as biopics seem to start becoming part of the Hollywood churn.
But who would play them?
“I almost need to feel like I need to stop giving this answer because we do get mistaken for each other all the time, and I think it’s probably annoying him, but Elijah Wood is the obvious place to play me in a parody of my life,” Radcliffe told Backstage.
Radcliffe and Wood became household names at similar times in the early noughties, with the pair starring in the lead roles in the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises.
Wood says Rachel Brosnahan, the star of Marvellous Mrs. Maisel would play her, saying she is often mistaken for the actress.
Weird streams on Roku, a free streaming service, from 4 November.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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