Aaron Paul Gives Daniel Radcliffe Advice For Playing Weird Al Yankovic - Exclusive

"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe is set to play Weird Al Yankovic in the upcoming biopic "WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story." The new movie is being written by Al Yankovic himself, alongside director Eric Appel, and is being produced by Funny or Die for exclusive streaming on The Roku Channel. However, this isn't the first time Yankovic has mined his own fictionalized life story alongside Appel and Funny or Die. "WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story" began life as a fake trailer on the Funny or Die website in 2010, starring Aaron Paul as the beloved musical parody artist.

Paul, who is best known for playing Jesse Pinkman in "Breaking Bad" as well as voicing Todd Chavez in "BoJack Horseman," has been keeping busy with other projects. Most recently, he had a scene-stealing turn as a self-defense instructor in Riley Stearns' dark sci-fi comedy, "Dual." Looper exclusively spoke to Paul and the other stars of "Dual" for the film's premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and Paul offered some important advice for how Radcliffe should best approach the role of Weird Al.

Paul's big advice to Radcliffe is simple: "Just be weird, man. Just be weird." Riley Stearns, the director of "Dual" who is known for pushing unnatural deadpan performances in his films, chimed in to say, "That's what I tell the actors every day." Paul is excited to see how Radcliffe handles the part, adding, "I got so excited when I saw that news. Al is such an incredible man, and I got to know him through that journey of doing that Funny or Die skit, and we stayed close throughout the years. I'm excited to see his wild, wild life on screen."

Radcliffe, for his part, is no stranger to weird performances. Since he finished playing Harry Potter, his notable roles have included a sentient farting corpse in "Swiss Army Man," a man with guns stuck to his hands in "Guns Akimbo," and various eccentric characters in the TV anthology series "Miracle Workers." Radcliffe also voiced himself in the "Bojack Horseman" Season 2 episode "Let's Find Out," which places him one degree of separation from Paul (who was an executive producer of "BoJack" in addition to the voice of Todd) and two degrees of separation from Yankovic, who would later voice Captain Peanutbutter in the same series.

"WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story" will stream on The Roku Channel. RJLE Films will release "Dual" in theaters later in 2022.