Daniel Radcliffe will soon be seen as “Weird Al” Yankovic in a biopic for the Roku Channel, and during a Friday-night appearance on “The Tonight Show” he explained the strange confluence of events that led him to be cast as the song-parody superstar.
As Radcliffe told host Jimmy Fallon, no one was more surprised than he was to learn that Yankovic had specifically requested Radcliffe for the role.
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“When I talked to Al for the first time, I was like, ‘I’m immensely flattered by the idea that you would pick me to play you, but like, why me?'” he said.
According to Radcliffe, it all goes back to a 2010 appearance on “The Graham Norton Show”, when the “Harry Potter” star appeared alongside Colin Farrell and Rihanna.
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During the appearance, Radcliffe demonstrated his “party trick,” flawlessly singing Tom Lehrer’s novelty song “The Elements”, in which the renowned song satirist lists off every element in the periodic table in rapid-fire fashion.
“I sang ‘The Elements’ next to Colin Farrell and a very bemused Rihanna, who I think was like, ‘Who is this kid and why is he singing all of the elements?'” Radcliffe recalled.
“And I guess Al saw that and was like, ‘This guy maybe gets it.’ And so picked me,” he explained.
