A new Weird: The Al Yankovic Story movie poster perfectly parodies Bohemian Rhapsody. The Roku Original film is loosely based on the life and career of Weird Al Yankovic and chronicles his early love of the accordion, his breakthrough with the help of Dr. Demento, friendship with Madonna, and his overall claim to fame – the ability to parody popular music. Weird Al himself wrote the screenplay for the film along with Eric Appel who also directs.
Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe leads the cast of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story as the titular master of parody. The bizarre biopic also boasts an eccentric supporting cast that includes Westworld's Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, The Office's Rain Wilson as Dr. Demento, Abbott Elementary's Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte as a record executive, Conan O'Brien as Andy Warhol, and Jack Black as Wolfman Jack. As a musical biopic that intentionally exaggerates and flat-out fabricates moments in Yankovic's life, the biographical film serves as a parody of popular musical biopics themselves.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
With about one month to go until the film's release, Roku released a new Weird: The Al Yankovic Story movie poster which is a perfect parody of Bohemian Rhapsody. In a side-by-side comparison posted to Twitter by @thisisnotahmad, the Weird Al movie poster copies Bohemian Rhapsody's to a tee from Radcliffe's sunglasses reflecting "Weird" instead of "Queen," a tagline the reads "Weird Lives Forever" in place of "Fearless Lives Forever," and the overall color scheme. Check out the new poster below:
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Is A Parody of Musical Biopics
For a movie about the master of parody which will itself satirize the biopic genre, it's only fitting the film's promotional campaign does the same. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story began back in 2010 as a fake trailer released by Funny or Die which was directed by Appel and parodied the more serious musical biopics like Walk the Line and Ray. But after the box office success of the more bombastic biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, Yankovic and Appel thought there might be interest in a full-length film based on the fake trailer.
By parodying the common tropes found in musical biopics, Yankovic and Appel were able to change or exaggerate facts about the musician's life for comedic effect. It's a creative idea that perfectly befits the man the musical biopic honors and an intriguing premise that has garnered glowing reviews from critics. Only time will tell how audiences respond to Weird: The Al Yankovic Story when it releases November 4 on The Roku Channel.