Daniel Radcliffe is living his best life. The Harry Potter alum stars as “Weird Al” Yankovic in the new wild and wacky biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Daniel at the movie’s New York City premiere about what he finds inspiring about Weird Al.
“I think one of the reasons I was attracted to the film was that even though you absolutely do not have to take a message away from this film, there is something very earnest and sweet in the message at the end of be as weird as you want to be,” Daniel said. “You’re only going to find true happiness if you accept who you are. I love just the ethos of being weird and proud of it. I like to think that I’ve always sort of carried a little bit of that. But definitely, it’s hard not to be inspired by that aspect of Al when you see what leaning into his “weirdness” has done for him. He’s had an incredible 40-year career and changed millions of lives.”
To play a fictionalized version of Weird Al, Daniel still had to learn how to play the accordion. For Daniel, that was “pretty much” the toughest part of the transformation.
“It’s an incredibly hard instrument,” Daniel admitted. “It’s not one I am naturally talented at. It requires more coordination than I’m good at, but it was really fun. I think I would have felt like I wasn’t even attempting to do my job if I got cast as Weird Al and didn’t at least try to figure out how the accordion works. So yeah, I will carry it on, but like, I’m not practicing as much as I used to.”
After a decade as Harry Potter, Daniel has since carved out a unique post-Potter career for himself. From indie films like Swiss Army Man to mainstream comedies like The Lost City, Daniel has found a place in the world of comedy.
“Comedy is very often the intersection of the ridiculous and silly and stupid and the incredibly precise and well-worked out and smart. I love working in that kind of space, and I like getting to do things where the ultimate goal is just to make someone happy and make them laugh. That’s a really nice way to make a film,” Daniel said. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will be available on the Roku Channel on November 4.