He’s a five-time Grammy winner; he’s one of the few musical artists to have a song in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in every decade since the 80s; and has served as an influence toLin-Manuel Miranda,Andy Samberg, andMichael Schur. His name isWeird Al Yankovic.
Last year saw the release of the critically acclaimed parody biopic,Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which starred none other thanDaniel Radcliffeas the iconic and ever-hilarious musician.In the vein ofWalk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, the film chronicles Yankovic’s rise to fame, including a scandalous relationship with pop megastarMadonna, getting parodied byMichael Jackson, going face-to-face withPablo Escobar, and getting assassinated live on stage. It’s quite the movie,and it’s all true, mostly, not really. Since when are most musical biopics historically accurate anyway?
Withthe arrival ofWeird: The Al Yankovic Storyon 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray(via Shout Factory), I was given the absolute honor to sit down and talk with Yankovic about the film, casting Daniel Radcliffe, and what he plans on doing next in the world of film and animation.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Explores every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.
COLLIDER: So everything that happened inWeirdtotally happened, right?
WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: Oh, sure. [Laughs] Start with that.
Because obviously you died, Madonna had you assassinated. So, are you still like a zombie right now?
YANKOVIC: Pretty much? I still like brain.
So were the people at Funny or Die freaked out when you came to them because, you know, you’re dead?
YANKOVIC: [Laughs] They got over it pretty quickly. They’ll work with anyone.
So I know your discography is so prolific. I remember my first introduction to you was in sixth grade. It was in the computer lab and my friend showed me the “Fat” music video, and I was wondering if there’s a particular parody of yours that you think is like the perfect introduction to your work?
YANKOVIC: Oh, gosh. I can’t say that there’s one particular thing that would be the best, but it should be in a computer lab, whatever it is. That’s the perfectplacefor the introduction.
Music biopics lately, they’re always so divisive, but I feel like the reception toWeirdis so universal. One of my friends, his dad is one of your biggest fans, and he was saying this is the best biopic even though it’s a comedy. I know this won the big award at TIFF for Midnight Madness. How did it feel when you initially heard all this praise? Were you expecting it or were you kind of shocked?
YANKOVIC: I was shocked. I mean, in my heart I thought it was funny, but you never know until you see it with people in the theater. TIFF was the first time I’d ever seen the movie with any kind of audience because it was a low-budget movie and we couldn’t afford any test screenings. So, the first time anybody outside of the people that made the movie saw it was in Toronto, and the reception was incredible. It kind of blew me away. I mean, it was the Midnight Madness screening so people were amped up to begin with, but it was such an incredible reaction. It assuaged all my fears. I felt pretty good after that.
How did it end up at Roku? It feels oddly fitting.
YANKOVIC: Well, Roku was the only company that wanted to buy it. We pitched it all around town, and if you want a list of every single company that turned it down, it’s every company not named Roku. But Roku got it, bless them, and they decided to take a chance on me, and I guess it worked out.
That’s everybody else’s loss then because this movie was so great.
YANKOVIC: Thank you.
How did Daniel Radcliffe become involved? Had you met him before?
YANKOVIC: I hadn’t met him before, but I’d seen him around in some movies. He maybe doesn’t look exactly like me, but I just thought he had the right kind of energy and he had the right kind of talent. He’s a great dramatic actor, he’s a great comedic actor. And I just knew that we’d be kindred spirits because I saw him on a British talk show in 2010, performing “The Elements” song by Tom Lehrer, and I thought, “Wow, that is such a ultra-nerdy thing to do. I bet we’d really get along.” So, that kind of put him on my radar. And when we were casting forWeird, I thought, “We should see if Dan would want to do this.”
Weird Al Gave Daniel Radcliffe Accordion Lessons as Prep
Did you spend a lot of time with him prepping? Did you teach him the accordion?
YANKOVIC: I did. I gave him some accordion lessons. He worked with a friend of his named Pete in New York, and then when he came to LA for pre-production I gave him a few more lessons, so he learned well enough to fake it pretty well. Accordion is a hard thing to learn after a certain age because there’s a lot going on. You’ve got your piano keys and you’ve got your buttons on the left hand side, and you’ve got to be moving the bellows, and maybe even singing at the same time. So, it’s a lot to keep in mind, but Dan nailed it. He’s a real pro.
My grandmother on my mom’s side, she knows the accordion. I always see it hung up in her basement, and I’m always like, “How do you even play that?”
YANKOVIC: It’s probably there to ward off strangers.
Probably. So also, with Evan Rachel Wood, with her playing Madonna, do you know if Madonna has seen the actual movie?
YANKOVIC: I don’t, and it seems weird to me that the movie’s been out for over a year now. Haven’t heard a peep about that. I don’t know if nobody’s asked her, or I really don’t know. I have to imagine she’s at least heard about it at this point. [Laughs] But no, I have not heard a word. If you hear anything, let me know. I’m dying to find out what she thinks.
Oh yeah! Obviously you always ask the artists before you parody everything. That was even something my dad was just talking about because he’s super excited that I’m interviewing you. He’s probably listening in with a cup on my door right now for all I know.
YANKOVIC: That was something that the Roku lawyers told us. I was concerned when we wrote the script, like, “Well, this is never gonna get made. We’re not gonna get approvals from all these people.” And the lawyers said, “Well, they’re all public figures, so go for it.” I said, “Well, okay! If you say so.”
Oprah Winfrey Knows About Her Role in ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’
Have you heard from any of the public figures? Have you heard from Oprah at all?
YANKOVIC: Not directly, but Oprah did an interview with Quinta Brunson, who played her in the movie. They did an interview and Oprah brought it up, and I’m not sure… [Laughs] I guess she liked the performance. I’m not even sure if she saw it, I think it was more like, “I heard you’re playing me in a movie,” but I hope she liked that. Quinta was amazing. We love her.
If Oprah has any taste, she’s seen the movie. Was there anything that you filmed in the movie or that was in the script that didn’t make the cut, but you really wish did? Are there any deleted scenes?
YANKOVIC: On the Blu-ray there is a deleted scene section. Not a whole lot got cut out of the movie because Eric Appel and I made sure to make the script as lean and mean as possible because we had to shoot in 18 days and we didn’t have time to shoot things that we didn’t think were gonna make the final cut. But having said that, they’re mostly trims, not like full scenes, little buttons to scenes that Eric thought were too broad or goofy because he didn’t want to take away any kind of heart or real emotional moments by undercutting it with a gag. I fought him on a few of those because I like gags, but mostly Eric and I were of the same mind and we thought that the same things were funny. But we arm wrestled a little bit on the final edit because he was going more for heart and I was going more for comedy, and I think we wound up in a good place.
How long had you been working on that script before it finally went in front of cameras?
YANKOVIC: Well, it’s based on the Funny or Die video, which we did in 2010, and then we didn’t really think about it until 2019, which is when I emailed Eric and said, “We should make a movie out of this!” Then we got together and I don’t know how long, exactly, it took to write the script. I know by the time the pandemic rolled around, we had a script and Daniel Radcliffe was attached, so less than a year. But it was a joy to work on because we wrote the story together, and in fact, we kind of perfected it by taking pitch meetings, because like I said, we pitched it all around Hollywood, and every time we pitched it we got a little bit better at pitching it and we added a few more ideas and jokes, and it got a bit more refined. So, after everybody had turned us down, we looked at each other and said, “Well, we know what this movie is, let’s just write it,” and then we did the script.
So going back to the Blu-rays, I love collecting physical media. WithWeirdbeing on 4K now, do you know ifUHF— I also know my friend’s dad who I mentioned earlier has a giant poster ofUHFin their basement and a huge physical media collection right next to it — can fans expect that?
YANKOVIC: Well, UHF, Shout! Factory has it on Blu-ray. I don’t think they have a 4K physical. It might be available digitally in 4K, I’m not quite sure about that, but the Blu-ray transfer is quite nice so that should hold you over, I would think.
How Weird Al’s Concerts Have Evolved Over the Years
I know you’ve been recording less, but you’ve been performing live a lot more. Even just a few years ago, you performed in my hometown, which was very cool. I was in college at that time, so I was not able to make that trip, but I deeply regret it. How has performing and touring evolved as you’re doing it more and more?
YANKOVIC: We’re getting better at it. I’ve been touring off and on since 1983, and I’ve had the same guys with me and they’re all seasoned professionals. Because I’m not putting out an album every tour now, I’m trying to think of different ways to present my music to the public. So, I’ve done the Vanity tours where we’re doing the stripped down, sitting-on-stools, kind of low-key version. I’ve done the Strings Attached tour where I perform with a full on symphony orchestra in every city, which was amazing. I can’t believe we pulled that off. And next time we go out it’ll be something else entirely, so stay tuned.
Do you think you would ever do a concert movie? I mean, obviously. I think it would outsell Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
YANKOVIC: I don’t think a theatrical movie, but a couple of my concerts have been preserved on video. There was one from 1999 that I think is still in print, [“Weird Al” Yankovic Live!] There are a couple different ones. There’s the Apocalypse tour live. That would have been later, in the early 2000s, I guess. So, there’ve been a couple live home videos. So, if you’re hankering for my version ofStop Making Sense, there you go. [Laughs]
You also just made your Broadway debut onGutenberg! The Musical!, and I know you’ve also just been nominated for an Emmy. I mean, you’ve won Grammys. Do you think you would ever attempt to go for the EGOT?
YANKOVIC: Well, we’ll see. The Emmys are in January, so if I am lucky enough to nab one, I’ll be halfway there. We’ll see.
How did the Broadway appearance happen? Have you been asked before? It always kind of made sense for you to be on Broadway, and I was shocked to hear that that was your first time.
YANKOVIC: I’ve been invited a couple times before and either the schedules didn’t work out or it didn’t seem like a good fit, but I love Josh Gad and Andrew Reynolds and theGutenberg!musical, and it’s like such a perfect cameo for anybody to do. It’s not too long, not too short. It’s a nice featured part, and it’s a great, great musical, so that I was thrilled to be able to be part of that. Honestly, I just got off of a Zoom call with my Broadway agent and we’re talking about maybe going down that road and doing something else Broadway related, so we’ll see what happens there. Next year I don’t have anything majorplanned. I’m kind of waiting to see what happens because I’ve got a lot of things in various stages of development, and looking to try a few new things. So, it’s sort of my exploration year. We’ll see what happens.
Weird Al Yankovic: The Voice Actor
You also do a lot of voice acting and I was just watching this on Netflix last night and I saw your name pop up in theScott Pilgrim Takes OffNetflix series. How did you become attached to that?
YANKOVIC: You know, I don’t know. I’m friends with Edgar Wright, but I thanked him for the gig and he said, “I had nothing to do with that. That’s the producers.” So, I don’t know. I’ve been doing a lot of voice acting. I love voice acting. It’s one of my absolute favorite things to do, so I’m thrilled to do virtually any project that comes my way. It’s a good time for me.
I know you’re also on the Disney show,Milo Murphy’s Law, and since they’re bringing backPhineas and Ferb, have you gotten any calls about going back to doing that?
YANKOVIC: I’d be honored. I love Dan [Povenmire] and [Jeff “Swampy” Marsh], and I’d be honored to do anything they want to involve me in. And by the way,Milo Murphy’s Lawwas never canceled. Disney never canceled it, they just never picked it up. So, maybe it’s on a 10-year hiatus or something, and they’re like, “Okay, time for Season 3. Let’s go!”
You never know. I also wanted to ask, because we were talking earlier about asking artists’ permission, has there ever been a time where you had an idea, you had something written, and it didn’t come true?
YANKOVIC: Where they didn’t give me permission to do it? Yeah, that’s happened a few times. In fact, I learned that fairly early on, which is why now I don’t bother actually writing the song until we’ve gotten a go-ahead from the original artist. I basically come up with a concept and idea and I pitch them on the idea, and if they’re amenable to it then I’ll write the song, and if they say, “Yeah, I don’t think so,” then I wouldn’t have wasted all my time.
When you were on the rise when you were younger, how did you persevere through rejection? How did you keep a positive attitude and move forward?
YANKOVIC: You just move on. I mean, there are other songs and other jokes to be had, and you can’t get too wrapped up in it. It’s a disappointment, but there’s a lot of disappointment in showbiz. It comes with the territory.
For my last question, I know you teased that you have something coming up with Broadway, but I’m curious, do you think you’ll do another movie thing pretty soon or have anything in the works?
YANKOVIC: I’d like to. Nothing in theimmediatefuture, butWeirdwas very successful, and it’s opened a few doors to me. Yeah, I would like to be more involved in various feature films and TV projects. In fact, I’ve got a few of those, like I said, in various stages of development, so fingers crossed. We’ll see.
This is just a hypothetical one that just kind of spun out from my head, but do you think you would ever do an animated movie where you would play yourself and go on an adventure?
YANKOVIC: [Laughs] I wouldn’t rule anything out. I would love to do an animated feature. I mean, being in a Pixar movie is like one of my bucket list dreams. But yeah, sure, why not?
Weird: The Al Yankovic Storyis now available to purchase on 4K Ultra HD.
