Evan Rachel Wood (HBO’s Westworld, Phoenix Rising) will star alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Roku’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, stepping into the role of Madonna.
Roku made the announcement via Instagram, sharing a first-look photo captioned: “First look 🌟 Evan Rachel Wood is joining Daniel Radcliffe in #WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story as the one and only Madonna!”
Known for pastiching and parodying the works of his musical contemporaries, Yankovic is the biggest-selling comedy recording artist of all time. The buzzy upcoming biopic promises to hold nothing back and explore every facet of his life, from his childhood through his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like “Eat It” and “Like a Surgeon,” while touching on his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.
Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide, winning seven Grammys and numerous other accolades and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. Her path intersected with Yankovic’s when he parodied her song “Like a Virgin” with the aforementioned “Like a Surgeon” in 1985.
Wood is a three-time Emmy nominee known for her role as Dolores Abernathy in HBO’s Westworld who will soon be seen in Phoenix Rising, a two-part documentary from director Amy Berg that documents her alleged experience of abuse at the hands of musician Marilyn Manson. The actress and musician has also appeared in such series as Drunk History, Doll & Em, True Blood and Mildred Pierce, and in films including Kajillionaire, Frozen II, The Ides of March, The Wrestler, Across the Universe, Running with Scissors and Thirteen.
Yankovic and Eric Appel penned the feature, with the latter Funny or Die alum directing, after helming a short film of the same name for the production company back in 2010. Production kicked off in Los Angeles last month. Yankovic is also producing alongside Mike Farah, Joe Farrell and Whitney Hodack for Funny or Die, and Tim Headington, Lia Buman and Max Silva for Tango. Appel is exec producing with Funny or Die’s Henry Muñoz III and Tango’s Neil Shah.
A premiere date has not yet been set, but Weird: The Al Yankovic Story will be available for streaming exclusively on The Roku Channel.
Check out the first still of Wood as Madonna below.