Not so generally. They sure send me a lot of weird stuff now, too. I don’t see my own sensibilities as being that weird. If you can tell a story in a way that is initially somewhat absurd, you connect with the audience differently. If you sit and lecture someone about how shame keeps us from love, that’s very dry. But if you make it a farting corpse used as a jet ski, like in Swiss Army Man, that’s a no-brainer. Guns Akimbo was less symbolic, with guns for arms. The scene where I’m trying to go to the bathroom is what I’d like to see as an audience member – in the same way that, just once, you want Spider-Man to land on a building and go, “Whoa, my legs. ” Playing crazy stuff is definitely something I enjoy. How have your views on acting evolved over the course of your career? DanielKSpb When I started I didn’t have… I was a child. Working with the biggest actors in Potter was very important. What I love is watching actors who are dedicated, professional, and absolutely on top of it, but who also know that we’re not saving lives. Acting is not a life or death process. People like Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman… Michael Gambon is the classic who is incredible at acting but doesn’t have time to take it too seriously. To have watched these kinds of people grow has been amazing. Do you get nervous when you appear on stage? How do you overcome it? feytasiic Absolutely. I am currently in rehearsals for Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim’s musical, at the New York Theater Workshop with Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. It’s absolutely terrifying that in three weeks, we’ll be doing what we do in the rehearsal room on stage. Luckily, I’ve played a lot of pretty nervous characters, so you can channel that nervous energy. But if we got to opening night and someone said, ‘I’m not nervous,’ I’d be like, ‘Fuck you.’ You should be nervous. Radcliffe in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, with Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey. Photo: Aaron Epstein/© 2022 The Roku Channel Are your tight perm, tas, and accordion in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story all your own work? Shall we get an accordion concert from you? vira_sh and feytasiic The mustache is all my work. Curly hair: very not. I talked to Al early on, who told me how terrible it is to play the accordion in the movies. I wanted to at least have my hands in the right position. Was I lucky? I have a self-taught accordionist friend who lives near New York, so I was able to go over to his house a few nights a week and at least be helpful. I was recently asked: would I be comfortable playing the accordion on camera? I gave the hardest no I could. You were in NME in 2004 talking about your favorite bands, which is how I discovered Razorlight. How do you think Up All Night stands out today – and does this formative era of UK indie (for anyone our age, anyway) deserve the same recognition as NYC’s Meet Me in the Bathroom scene? Justice for Johnny Borrell! Laurasnaps I don’t consider them separate scenes. The timelines were so identical that it felt like the Strokes were happening at the same time as the Libertines and Razorlight. I haven’t listened to Up All Night in a while, but I still love Stumble and Fall and Rip It Up. The Libertines were the band of my teenage years that still have staying power. Up the Bracket is still so energetic and unusual, with a sense of urgency unlike anything else. I remain a devoted fan of the Libertines. What’s the weirdest rumor you’ve read about yourself? TurangaLeela2 I have SAS bodyguards to walk my dogs. Another said I was getting a personalized beer brewed by Belgian monks. This was before I was sober. at least they weren’t that dumb. Another was that I have my assistant keep scripts in the mirror so that, to save time, I can read them during hair and makeup. This is much more complicated than holding them! The sofa setting on The Graham Norton Show [everyone in a semi-circle] it doesn’t seem intuitive at all. Which chatshow makes it easier for you with its seating arrangement? 25 aubrey I would say the only person who relaxes me is Graham Norton. In almost every other one, you come in, talk for five minutes, get off and the next guest comes. For seating arrangements, this is fine. But when it comes to the debate, the pressure is enormous. Controlling the conversation at a dinner party is my personal nightmare. Going out with a bunch of other people feels a lot like a real conversation. “There is antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium…” My most surreal experience was sitting next to Rihanna and Colin Farrell at Graham Norton doing the song Elements. Now, I’m disappointed: “You did the craziest thing possible next to two of the coolest people on the planet. What were you thinking?” But doing this and Alphabet Aerobic [on Jimmy Fallon] both jobs have found me. Elements was one of the first things that brought Weird Al to my attention. Sometimes doing something really bad on a chatshow will pay off for you years later. What did you make of Alan Rickman’s comments in his diaries that he thought you would make a great director? Are we closer to seeing you as a director? ApplesofGold and Hedgepig1978 I think he was very, very kind. I enjoyed reading the excerpts. You can really hear his voice and watch the relationship with all of us: “Who are these kids who really need to learn their lines?” I am very flattered that he would think of me as a director. I hope he’s right. I’d love to direct, but it’s not something I take lightly, so I wouldn’t try to just squeeze it in between films. I have written something that I am trying to fix. So hopefully, sometime. Do you go to Harry Potter world on your days off to relax? TopTramp No. That’s not my idea of ​​a relaxing time, in the same way that I haven’t been to see the play. I just realized that one of the ADR studios in New York that I often record at is next to the Harry Potter store. I’ve seen Harry Potter bags go by and thought, “Maybe I should turn around and find another route?” I love Potter. I love the world. I love what he gave me in life. But as a way to spend a day, no, I don’t sit and watch all the movies. Get our weekly pop culture email delivered free to your inbox every Friday Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. You explored your family history in Who Do You Think You Are?. What was the most surprising detail you discovered about your ancestors? avonggirl All the stuff with my great grandfather on my mom’s side. how he was paparazzi after he was arrested for this massive robbery, so there are newspapers with my great grandfather on the front, falling into the arms of the police as they drag him out. The mysteries of why my mom’s family changed their name at some point… What other reality shows would I do? Almost all don’t, I’m sure. I’ll be at home watching I’m A Celebrity thinking, ‘I could do that’, until they get to the gross food. I can dance, with enough choreography, but I don’t think I’d be good enough for Strictly. Even the masked singer seems too crazy for my crazy tastes. My girlfriend of 10 years [actor Erin Darke] she’s American and the show she most wants us to go on is Bargain Hunt. I love Bargain Hunt. But he doesn’t want to go to the famous. He just wants us to go to a regular episode. He can’t understand how, in America, at any gameshow, the prize for the third loser is $1,000, but at Bargain Hunt they say, “You won. Here it is £3.50. She also thinks she would be better than anyone at it. If I go to Bargain Hunt and do badly, I’ll never be able to see Bargain Hunt again, and I don’t want to strip away that pleasure. Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 2001. Photo: P.A. How do you keep your eyebrows in order? Tristanite Plucking. I let them get out of control on the theory that I would soon be in front of a makeup artist who would say, “Jesus, we have to do something about this.” They should have been removed from the first Harry Potter film. I have no qualms about it. Is Daniel Radcliffe a good cook? vira_sh No way. This is why I can’t go on MasterChef. I have about four plates, and I’m not going to admit what they are because two are so annoying, they’re not even plates. There’s no way I’m surrendering to the Guardian forever! I can keep myself alive in a house if everything goes wrong, but that’s about it. Talking of Weird Al: three weirdest things you’d get on a desert island? feytasiic You have watched this program, Alone [on Prime]? They fly people to very isolated places – mostly Canada in the series I’ve watched – with their own cameras. I would bring flint and steel, because that’s all you need to start a fire. My girlfriend and I once took a primitive firefighting class at a hotel that offered it as a service somewhere in Pennsylvania. The guy had an Altoid tin full of cotton balls covered in Vaseline, which work very well as starters. So my Altoid tin, my Vaseline cotton balls and my flint and steel. This is both practical and weird. Have you ever escaped recognition by claiming to be…