Fresh off of making Emmys history by becoming the first Black woman nominated for three comedy Emmys in the same year, “Abbott Elementary” star and creator Quinta Brunson is tackling her next challenge: transforming into Oprah Winfrey in Roku’s “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.”
In a new official image from the film, fans get their first look at Brunson as Winfrey.
The upcoming biopic stars Daniel Radcliffe (“The Lost City”) as one of pop culture’s most beloved parody artists, “Weird” Al Yankovic. The film, which first began in 2010 when Funny or Die released a fake trailer for a satirical biographical drama with the same title, will also star Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”) as Madonna and Rainn Wilson (“Dark Winds”) as Dr. Demento. Director Eric Appel wrote the screenplay for the biographical comedy alongside Yankovic.
Roku’s official tongue-in-cheek plot synopsis reads: “Daniel Radcliffe is ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of our time. From a conventional upbringing where playing the accordion was a sin, Al rebelled and made his dream of changing the words to world-renowned songs come true. An instant success and sex symbol, Al lives an excessive lifestyle and pursues an infamous romance that nearly destroys him.”
Yankovic is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time and a five-time Grammy winner. He is producing “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” alongside Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Whitney Hodack for Funny Or Die, and Tim Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva for Tango. Appel is executive producing with Funny Or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah.
“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” is slated to arrive on the free, ad-supported Roku Channel this fall. Check out the official first look photo below.
