Daniel Radcliffe reallygot into characterforWeird: The Al Yankovic Story.
Inthe biographical parody film(released on The Roku Channel on Nov. 4),theHarry Potteralumportrays musician"Weird Al" Yankovicthroughoutvarious stages of his career.
Seeing as the film recreates some ofWeird Al’s most memorable parody songs, including “My Bologna” and “Like a Surgeon,” many are curious if Radcliffe is really singing in the film. And the answer is yes and no.
While Radcliffe sang the Weird Al songs live during takes,Yankovic later dubbed over the actor’s voicefor the film’s soundtrack.
“I was singing them on set because I find [that] just lip-syncing and not making any sound is really, really hard, but we always knew it would ultimately be Al’s voice, which is great and took a lot of pressure off,” Radcliffe told Variety at TIFF.
“There was something both intimidating about having him there every day because like, you know, it’s him and we are making this thing about his life… but also, there was like some tacit reassurance there every time when you hear him laughing at something or when he would come in after a take looking really pleased. We’d be like, ‘Okay, great. We’re doing fine. He likes it.’ If [director] Eric [Appel] is happy, and Al’s happy, then we’re doing our job.”
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Radcliffe is certainly no stranger to singing, having previously starred in the Broadway revival of the musicalHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Tryingin 2011, and set to star in the upcomingoff-Broadway revival ofMerrily We Roll Along.
“It was great,” Appel told ComicBook.com aboutwatching Radcliffe perform. “He’s a great singer. He’s been on Broadway and I mean he nailed it. It helped him to sing along on set, just to sync up with the prerecorded tracks. But like, his voice is great and I did karaoke with him after we wrapped and heard him sing some Weird Al songs there. And you gotta hear the Daniel Radcliffe rendition of ‘White and Nerdy.'”
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“I’m not good at the accordion, but I’ve come so far with it relative to the nothing that I started at that it seems dumb to just stop playing completely,” Radcliffe told EW. “I think I’m going to very gradually keep it up over the years, and maybe one day I’ll be able to play a song with both hands at the same time.”
source: people.com
