Weird: The Al Yankovic Story: Movie vs Real Life

we're at the Al Yankovic story is the very weird story of a very weird guy the movie like the man himself takes great Delight blurring the lines between fact and fiction basically daring us to try to separate real life from parody well Mr Yankovic challenge accepted let's establish some ground rules first you probably shouldn't go into this video expecting a normal side-by-side comparison like we might do with a traditional biopic like Bohemian Rhapsody this is Weird Al Yankovic we're talking about the guy who wrote Amish Paradise eat it and like a surgeon Yankovic himself happily admits that he had basically zero interest in making a serious biopic and neither did his co-writer and director Eric Capel who is on record as saying he did absolutely no research on Al's actual life they are both far more interested in creating a deranged parody of traditional music biopics satirizing all familiar tropes and narratives in the same way Weird Al's music has been parroting popular songs for decades think Walk Hard rather than Walk the Line and actually one of the main reasons the movie exists is because of a comedy short that Erica Pell made for funny or died nearly 10 years ago that version starred Aaron Paul as Weird Al and Olivia Wilde as Madonna rather than Daniel Radcliffe and Evan Rachel Wood but you can see that the concept was already pretty much fully formed weird also the short and loved it so much that he started showing it at his concerts so when the time came to make a movie why wouldn't he go back to the man who created it and here's a fun fact Aaron Paul was actually supposed to come and make a cameo in the new movie but he unfortunately had to bow out because he came down with Kobe okay that's actually not that fun best wishes to Mr Paul we hope he feels better anyway when you think about it with Weird Al involved it was inevitable that the parody trailer would eventually become a real movie and that the real movie would itself be apparent a real circle of life kind of deal so it was anything in the Al Yankovic story real well kinda it's definitely a hundred percent true that Alfred Matthew Yankovic AKA Weird Al Yankovic AKA Weird Al is a composer and singer of Comedy songs who has sold over 12 million albums since he first appeared on the Dr Demento Radio Show in 1976. he also plays the accordion so the basic overall structure of the movie pretty accurate and some things that might seem like comic conventions are actually true like the Yankovic bunk where the release of a Weird Al parody leads to a spike in the sales of the original songs that's actually a genuine phenomena the real Weird Al has even said that he had a call from Nirvana's record label after his parody smells like Nirvana came out thanking him because they sold a whole bunch more units of the original sometimes fact is actually Stranger Than Fiction but don't get it twisted this movie is not a Wikipedia entry when it comes to the realities of Weird Al's life let's just say some Liberties have been taken for example in the movie Al's parents especially his father deeply disapprove of young Al's decision to take up the accordion his movie dad is so angry that he beats up the door-to-door accordion salesman who inspires his son good drama sure but in reality Al's parents especially his father were very supportive of their son playing the accordion in fact it was actually their idea for him to learn the instrument inspired by America's poker King Frankie Yankovic no relation believe it or not yeah who knew there were two famous unrelated yankovics who played the accordion of course the angry disapproving father figure is a classic Trope of the Rockstar biopic so of course they'd want to satirize it and when it comes to Weird Al's breakout hit my Bellona a parody of My Sharona by the neck the movie also goes for a classic Trope of the biopic and ideas suddenly striking the composer in a moment of divine cinematic inspiration here Alice making a sandwich for his band My Sharona comes on the radio and the parody version comes to Al in a Flash like magic foreign [Music] much less exciting Al had already been considering carroting My Sharona and the lyrics for his version came the way they usually do through lots of brainstorming rehearsal and repetition how about Weird Al's relationship with Madonna in the movie they meet and are instantly attracted to each other hooking up in a hilariously passionate horny scene their makeout session was actually the first scene that Radcliff and wood shot which were sure wasn't awkward at all after that Madonna seems to become Al's Muse throughout the movie well we're sorry to disappoint you but there is no relationship in reality in fact it's probably one of the biggest Liberties taken in the movie Not only did the real Madonna and Al never hook up but there's not much evidence that they were actually even that close the only connection that they do have is that the real Madonna did suggest that alright a parody of her song Like a Virgin which results in his hit Like a Surgeon and that's not the only major Liberty that the movie takes the Al Yankovic story portrays Al as a troubled rebellious guy with a drink and drug problem that makes them violent unpredictable and unprofessional again classic rock star stuff which you probably recognize from uh let me check my nose every music biopic you've ever seen but it's all fictional in reality Al has never had any issues with substance abuse he's actually famously clean living and mild-mannered he doesn't even swear his go-to curse according to interviews is dang it and he definitely has never alienated his bandmates by being drunk and abusive which to be honest makes the joke much funnier and here are a few more things that Weird Al Yankovic has never done Weird Al did not wear his platinum records around his neck when he was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey Weird Al has never exposed himself on stage Weird Al does not play himself in the new Bible Peak though he does appear in the movie playing record producer Tony Scotty not at all confusing Weird Al did not rescue Madonna from notorious Colombian drug lord and narcoteroist Pablo Escobar to be clear Weird Al never even met notorious Colombian drug lord in Narco terrorist Pablo Escobar however notorious Colombian drug lord and Narco terrorist Pablo Escobar did once Express an interest in kidnapping Michael Jackson so when writing the new movie Weird Al and Erica Pell took some inspiration from that once again sometimes real life it's Stranger Than Fiction and speaking of Michael Jackson we can also confirm that the late King of Pop did not still eat it from Weird Al Yankovic and turned it into beat it as the movie suggests that may be pretty obvious to most people but you never know with the internet oh and while we're busting myths it is true that the late great Coolio wasn't super happy with Weird Al's parody of Gangster's Paradise when it came out he thought maybe understandably that Elle's version cheapened the song's very serious message but the scene in the movie where the rapper angrily watches the live performance didn't happen sorry and in fact before he died Coolio even apologized for taking the parody too seriously which is nice that they ended up making up but hey you guys are probably wondering if all that stuff is made up is anything in the new movie actually real well here's a question right back at you what's the most important element of a music biopic no it's not the drugs or the sex it's not even the disappointed father figure it's the music and all the music in the movie is 100 percent real now different biopics have taken different approaches to recreating music some like walk the line or Rocket Man have the actor who plays the musician do all the singing themselves Joaquin Phoenix even learned to play the guitar from scratch when he played Johnny Cash other movies have the actor lip sync to the original song such as Jamie Foxx did and Rey so skillfully in fact that a lot of people thought it was actually him singing and others go for a strange hybrid approach like Bohemian Rhapsody In which Rami Malek's voice was digitally combined with another singer though that singer wasn't Queen frontman Freddie Mercury weird now we're sure Daniel Radcliffe would have worked hard to sing like Weird Al and the actor did learn to play the accordion for the new movie but the songs they're totally Weird Al with Daniel Radcliffe carefully lip syncing but not all the songs are the original versions Weird Al decided that he would re-record brand new versions of some of them to make sure that everything sounded up to date but it's totally him singing he even wrote a new song for the end credits with lyrics suggesting that the song is eligible for for an Oscar though unfortunately that's not accurate because the movie hasn't had a theatrical release sorry to disappoint you out it's kind of fitting in a way in a movie that completely parodies so much of Weird Al's life the one thing that definitely isn't a parody or an impression is his music but that's not to say that Daniel Radcliffe didn't have any work to do we've already mentioned that he learned to play the accordion but there is a lot more to it than that Daniel Radcliffe is no stranger to musical performances as you'll know if he saw his famous appearance on Jimmy Fallon when he wrapped Alphabet Aerobics by Blackalicious in fact it was another talk show appearance that first brought Radcliffe to Weird Al's attention the musician saw the actor perform the element song on a British talk show in 2010 and thought to himself that's Alpha nerd stuff we're kindred spirits and yeah we'd say Alpha nerd is about right but there's a big leap from talk show performance to actually playing the guy Ratcliffe is going full Rockstar in this new movie bare-chested drinking punching and shouting kicking down doors probably even trashing some hotel rooms he got seriously buffed for the road too working with some of the pros who get the Marvel actors in shape Radcliffe even got some pointers from Thor himself Chris Hemsworth who else would you ask for guidance on abs and such and yes we can confirm the actor even grew his own mustache clearly the most important physical change so sure Radcliffe worked hard but is his performance an accurate take on Weird Al well in a word nope as we've already said the real life Weird Al might be eccentric but he's also famously mild-mannered and polite and no offense to the guide but he's not exactly super buff so what gives well in keeping with the movie satirical take on musical biopics Radcliffe's performances also satirical Weird Al had no real interest in an accurate true to life impersonation he deliberately gave the young actor very few notes and encouraged Radcliffe to interpret the fictional owl however he wanted it's a refreshingly non-egotistical approach and it means that even though Radcliffe isn't singing Al's songs he is able to bring his own particular magic to the characters surrounding the songs he's playing the man's pure uncut weirdness and his huge unexpected Fame in a heightened way which is one of the many things that sets the Al Yankovic story apart from the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody for which star Rami Malek spent hours meticulously studying Freddie Mercury's every movement so he could perform an accurate impression so while the portrayal of the music is probably the number one most important part of a music biopic the portrayal of the musician is definitely the second most important but for this movie The portrayal of the musician isn't really true to life at all see what we mean when we say is hard to separate the fact from the fiction anyway Daniel Radcliffe isn't even the only one giving us a memorable take on a real life celebrity being the biopic of a pretty famous guy the movie is full of many other famous faces some of them even played by different Fame spaces the big pool party scene for example is full of cameos from the likes of Jack Black and Conan O'Brien which was basically a case of Weird Al going through his address book and saying hey you want to be in my movie now that's Fame but it's not just a matter of famous cameos the movie also features other real life characters with bigger more important roles than Weird Al's life but exactly how accurate are they rain Wilson plays Dr Demento the radio DJ who first discovered the musical prodigy the DJ strange name was pretty fitting as he would play a whole bunch of weird stuff from polka music to a horror movie soundtracks and Rayne Wilson actually grew up listening to him I wonder what the young Wilson would have thought if someone told him to grow up to play his favorite DJ the movie also features Quincy Brunson Creator and star of Abbott Elementary as the legendary Oprah Winfrey did Weird Al ever meet Oprah yes he did he was once interviewed by her though as we said earlier Al did not wear his platinum records around his neck he did however name check the famous talk show host and not one but three songs he's clearly a big fan and of course there's the aforementioned Evan Rachel Wood playing Madonna we already know that Alan Madonna aren't really that close so that aspect of the movie isn't true but what about was betrayal of the iconic star well again the line seem pretty blurry wood is playing her as an intense scary even kind of horny Superstar which is very much the kind of persona that the real Madonna cultivated when she was first rushing the prominence the filmmakers even suggested that wood player as if she had taken a whole bunch of cocaine but apparently the portrayal hasn't actually been cleared with Madonna herself so what is now kinda nervous that she's in the bad books of one of the most legendary pop stars ever hey we're pretty sure Madonna has a good sense of humor it's a parody after all and wood is giving us a heightened intensified take on Madonna in the same way that Radcliffe is giving us a heightened intensified take on Weird Al himself and you know what there's a good reason why everyone making this movie seems heightened and intense cause not only did it have a budget of just 8 million dollars which is Tiny it was shot in less than three weeks that's right 18 days which is tight for a major Motion Picture heck it would even be tight for an indie movie for reference that's 10 days shorter than the 28-day shoot for Rocky in 1976 but 10 days longer than the eighth day shoot for The Blair Witch Project in 1999. now we're wondering what a weird-out parody of The Blair Witch Project would look like hey the man's destroyed the music biopic for good I mean he might as well get started on the final footage horror genre too okay it's not strictly true that we're at the Al Yankovic story has destroyed the music biopic as we know it anyone who saw it Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story back in 2007 probably thought that we would never see a traditional Rockstar biopic again Lockhart is so accurate and merciless in how it tears down the tropes surely nobody will be stupid enough to make another one after that well you'd think but no there have been plenty more traditional biopics since Walk Hard and we'll probably see more after weird it's such a tired and tested formula it'll probably never die but where exactly does weird fit in that cinematic tradition it's definitely not a Rey or a Bohemian Rhapsody or really even a rocket man it's much more in the lineage of comic experimental movies like Walk Hard or I'm not there the unconventional 2007 Bob Dylan biopic in which the great songwriter was played by six actors including Heath Ledger and believe it or not Kate Blanchett hang on 2007 Walk Hard and I'm not there we're both made in 2007 that's like year zero for weird music biopics what could it mean anyway what we're trying to say is even if the fiction doesn't always align with the facts the feel of the movie is about as close to the real Weird Al as you could hope to get short of injecting yourself directly into his brain and if weird shows us anything is that a movie about a musician will often be more interesting if it leans into what makes that musician special after all I'm not their works because it literally portrays Bob Dylan as he's always been a man with many faces and weird works because it literally portrays Weird Al as he's always been a huge weirdo so we hope you enjoyed this video hopefully when it inevitably goes viral and becomes the most popular video on YouTube Weird Al can make a parody of it then we can make a video analyzing that period Then he compared you the analysis and so on forever sound good

Channel: Screen Rant

Views: 109,218

Keywords: Biopic, Daniel Radcliffe, Movie, Parody, Things You Missed, Weird The Al Yankovic Story, weird al, weird al movie, weird al real story, fact vs fiction, screen rant, screenrant

Id: 5MUF8P2J8cU

Length: 15min 3sec (903 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 10 2022