Eric Appel, director and co-writer ofWeird: The Al Yankovic Story, has revealed that he and his team purposefully created the newly-released parody biopic without doing any real research into the actual life of “Weird Al” Yankovic himself. For almost anyone else, that might seem like a lazy and disrespectful way to go about things, but considering the subject of this movie, it was actually done in order to properly honor the legendary parody music artist.
Now thatWeird: The Al Yankovic Storyhas been released on The Roku Channel, audiences everywhere finally get to seeHarry PotterstarDaniel Radcliffe flex his weird chops as Yankovic, and many viewers likely weren’t expecting what they ended up watching. While the film is billed as a biopic, it’s a fictional comedy first and foremost. This becomes quickly apparent through the movie’s depiction of Yankovic’s life, from his rebellious accordion-playing as a child all the way to a shootout with infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar.
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“We thought, let’s treat this as if it is a real biopic that exists in some bizarro alternate universe, where Weird Al is as popular as the Beatles were and parody songwriting is the most innovative thing,” Appel said while speaking withThe Daily Beast. “It’s like Elvis swinging his hips or the invention of rock ‘n’ roll.” This certainly sounds like something befitting Yankovic’s own famously wacky sense of humor, but why not make a more accurate biopic with comedy elements rather than the exquisitely fabricated chaos that is this latest instance ofWeird Al on the big screen?
“It’s funny,” Appel mused when asked about this. “He’s someone who’s definitely deserving of a biopic. He’s such an icon. He’s a Halloween costume every year. But it’s like he always said: His real story doesn’t have the drama. There’s no villain. There’s no downfall. It doesn’t have the arc to make a compelling story. Al never really had that. He would go away for a little bit, and then he would always reemerge on top. I feel like he’s doing it again with this movie. I think to do a biopic like this is the only way you can do a Weird Al biopic. Making it a parody biopic is the way to honor the legend.”
Appel was also behind the nearly decade-old viral fake trailer on Funny or Die that also bore the nameWeird: The Al Yankovic Story. Serving as the jumping-off point for ultimately making the full movie, the original sketch featuredBreaking Bad’s Aaron Paulas Yankovic. In fact, Yankovic himself loved it so much that he began showing it at his concerts, further increasing its popularity. “My goal then was, ‘If I make a fake movie trailer and it looks like a real movie, maybe someone will let me direct a real movie,’ Appel said of the parody trailer’s inspiration. “It’s funny that 10 years later…”
Yankovic’s real story is almost unheard of, finding success in such a niche genre and riding that success into becoming a household name. But somehow, Appel and his crew managed to tell an even more outlandish version of the tale. Here’s hopingWeird: The Al Yankovic Story’s lost shot at Oscar gloryis the only misstep it suffers.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Storyis available to stream on The Roku Channel.
