Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) on Netflix
NR20221h 48mBiographyComedyMusic
Al Yankovic wants to parody songs, but his father disapproves and destroys his accordion. He faces rejection until a radio DJ plays his song and Dr. Demento offers to manage him.
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- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb6.8/1050,263 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes84%
Trailer
Plot summary
Alfred 'Al' Yankovic grows up wanting to parody songs, though his father disapproves. His mother secretly buys him an accordion, but his father destroys it after catching Al at an illicit polka party. Years later, Al shares a place with Steve, Jim, and Bermuda and keeps getting rejected at band auditions. While listening to 'My Sharona' and making a bologna sandwich, he writes 'My Bologna' and sends it to a radio DJ, who plays it. At Scotti Brothers Records, the brothers mock him but tell him to gain experience. He performs 'I Love Rocky Road' at a biker bar with his roommates as his band. Dr. Demento, a radio host, offers to manage him and suggests the name 'Weird Al'.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Yankovic's agreement with Queen over "Another One Rides the Bus" said he could not mention Freddie Mercury, even though the script called for Al to be challenged by Mercury at the pool party. The Lonely Island were approached to play the other members of Queen; Andy Samberg was unavailable, and Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone were cast as Alice Cooper and Pee-wee Herman.
- Patton Oswalt, who had played Dr. Demento in the original short, was set to play the role again in the feature, but broke his foot shortly before shooting and the tight schedule could not wait for him. Rainn Wilson was brought in to play Dr. Demento three days before filming started.
- One of the film's inventions has a real basis: Madonna herself originally came up with the idea for Yankovic's parody "Like a Surgeon", and when Yankovic heard about it he agreed it was a good idea.
- The film cost around $8 million and was shot in eighteen days instead of the planned twenty-two, because Roku's contract capped the schedule at eighteen days as a cost-saving measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Daniel Radcliffe believed his November 2010 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, where he sang Tom Lehrer's "The Elements", was the reason he was cast as Al Yankovic, since Yankovic and Appel knew he liked that kind of comedic musician.
- The film was originally going to be shot in Atlanta for tax breaks, but Roku let Yankovic and Appel shoot in Los Angeles instead, which is what made it possible to hire a long list of celebrities for cameos.
- Yankovic had the original 16mm footage from his "Eat It" music video scanned in 4K, and it was briefly used in the film with Daniel Radcliffe's face digitally superimposed over Yankovic's own.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda contacted Yankovic within minutes of the film's production being announced to ask for a part, and got a cameo as an ER doctor, filmed while he happened to be in Los Angeles.
