Who would’ve thought that having Nina West and Conan O’Brien on speed dial came with so many perks?
When “Weird Al” Yankovic first started shopping his satirical autobiography script around Hollywood, customers seemed few and far between. Luckily for us, one of streaming’s biggest perks is that it doesn’t need to live up to the digestibility standards of Hollywood or cable television, neither of which may have ever been able to stomach an idea as creatively out-there as Weird: The Al Yankovic Story like The Roku Channel can, evidently.
What’s more, Yankovic quickly found himself with a cast to die for, landing none other than Daniel Radcliffe in the title role, along with Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento, and Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey. Indeed, there were four very tall orders to fill, and each of them wound up at an overflow.
But the casting luck didn’t end there. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Yankovic revealed that, whenever he found himself spearheading casting efforts, he often just needed to rely on his contacts list, which consisted of names such as drag queen Nina West and comedian Conan O’Brien.
I went through my address book, emailed a bunch of my friends, and said, ‘hey we’re shooting this crazy pool party in the Valley, do you want to come out and spend half a day doing it?’ Thankfully a bunch of people showed up and we were able to pull it off! I still can’t believe that actually happened.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a satirical chronicle of the life of famed musician “Weird Al” Yankovic, known for his penchant for parodying the songs of famous artists, often to similar acclaim. In such a spirit, Weird cheekily plays with the biopic genre by exaggerating some of Yankovic’s life events or making up entirely new ones. And with a 93 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Hollywood will be miffed about passing on this one.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will release on The Roku Channel on Nov. 4.