Weird Al used his 'holiday card mailing list' to cast the celebrity cameos in his biopic (original) (raw)
At the New York Comic Con panel for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Yankovic revealed how he got friends like Conan O'Brien and Jorma Taccone as cameos for his biopic.
Published on October 9, 2022 08:05PM EDT
As trailers have made clear, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is not your typical musician biopic. Instead, it is a parody of the tropes of such films, in much the same way that "Weird" Al Yankovic's music parodies more famous pop songs. When stars Daniel Radcliffe and [Evan Rachel Wood](http://Evan Rachel Wood) discussed the film at New York Comic Con on Sunday alongside director Eric Appel and Yankovic himself (dialing in virtually from Florida), they kept sarcastically referring to Weird as "100 percent accurate" when it's anything but.
But at least one thing is real: The goodwill that Yankovic has accumulated over the years with fans and peers in the entertainment industry. The former was evident in the rapturous reception the panelists received from their audience, while the latter helped get some starry cameos into the film.
'Abbott Elementary' star Quinta Brunson plays Oprah Winfrey in the Daniel Radcliffe-led Weird Al Yankovic biopic. Roku
The centerpiece of the panel was an exclusive clip featuring Radcliffe's Yankovic coming up with his Queen parody "Another One Rides the Bus" on the spot in response to a challenge from radio personality Wolfman Jack (Jack Black). The scene was set at a fictional pool party hosted by Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), and is filled with fun cameos from iconic counterculture personalities of the '70s and '80s like artist Andy Warhol (Conan O'Brien) and drag queen Divine (Nina West).
"I was sort of the casting director for that particular pool scene," Yankovic said. "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."
Appel added, "Al kind of just showed me his holiday card mailing list and said, pick some of these names!"
Of these cameos, Radcliffe's personal favorite was Jorma Taccone's performance as Pee-wee Herman. "I would see him walking around set, and would just get immediately distracted," Radcliffe said. "He's incredible."
If that scene sounds tantalizing to those of you who couldn't make the panel in person, worry not: Radcliffe added that it was from "the normal part of the movie," before things go truly off the rails.
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story begins streaming on the Roku Channel on Nov. 4.
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