Filming on the “Weird Al” Yankovic biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe is underway, and Rolling Stone has an exclusive first look at some of the film’s surprise casting, including Evan Rachel Wood in the role of Madonna.

Yankovic notably parodied Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” in 1985, crafting “Like a Surgeon” with Madonna’s blessing; she allegedly also came up with the spoof’s title. (The following year, he created a faux interview with the Material Girl, using footage from a preexisting Madonna interview paired with his outlandish questions.)

In addition to Wood portraying Madonna in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, The Office’s Rainn Wilson has also been cast as legendary bizarro radio host (and “Weird Al” mentor) Dr. Demento, while Toby Huss and Julianne Nicholson will play Yankovic’s parents Nick and Mary.

Roku, which will premiere the biopic, previously shared the first photo of Harry Potter star Radcliffe in the role of the master parodist. “Wearing the Hawaiian shirt is a huge responsibility that I don’t take lightly, and I’m honored to finally share with the world the absolutely 100 percent unassailably true story of Weird Al’s depraved and scandalous life,” Radcliffe said in a statement.

Yankovic himself co-wrote Weird: The Al Yankovic Story alongside Funny or Die’s Eric Appel, who will also direct the likely unorthodox biopic.

“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule,” Yankovic previously said in a statement. “And I am absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”

Roku also said of the film, “The biopic holds nothing back, exploring every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story takes audiences on a truly unbelievable journey through Yankovic’s life and career, from gifted child prodigy to the greatest musical legend of all time.”

Source: rollingstone.com

Evan Rachel Wood, Eliza Scanlen, Rufus Sewell and Vanessa Redgrave are set to lead an adaptation of World War II-era book “All That I Am,” Variety can reveal.

AGC Studios is fully financing the film, which will be shot in Berlin and Sydney in late summer. The studio, led by Stuart Ford, introduced the project to buyers this week as part of the virtual European Film Market, which generally runs alongside the Berlin Film Festival. (A number of projects have been introduced early to buyers this year, leading to an elongated market period.)

Written by Australian author Anna Funder, the 2012 international bestseller brings to light a heroic true story about four German-Jewish literati-turned-anti-Nazi activists who are forced to flee to London following the rise of Adolf Hitler’s regime in Germany.

Sixty years later, one of the group members, Ruth Wesemann, is living in Sydney, Australia, and is the sole survivor of the four. One day she receives a package containing the posthumous memoirs of her old friend Ernst Toller and is drawn back into her memories, and the years in which the four emigrés smuggled highly classified documents from Hermann Goering’s office into the hands of Winston Churchill.

The film has set Kate Dennis (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Glow”) as director, while Matthew Faulk and Mark Skeet — who co-wrote the Reese Witherspoon-led “Vanity Fair” adaptation — are to write the screenplay, based on Funder’s book.

Scanlen is Ruth while Wood will play Dora Fabian. Redgrave will play the older Ruth, in Australia, while Sewell is Ernst.

Producers include Troy Lum (“The Water Diviner,” “Saving Mr. Banks”), Andrew Mason (“The Matrix,” “The Water Diviner”), Gabrielle Tana (“The Dig,” “Philomena”), Jorgo Narjes (“The Wild Republic”) and Uwe Schott (“Babylon Berlin,” “Amour”).

AGC recently sold Chloe Okuno’s Sundance thriller “Watcher” to Focus Features for international. The pic went to IFC Midnight and Shudder in North America.

Also at Sundance was the Evan Rachel Wood-centered documentary “Phoenix Rising,” which details her life as a child actor and Hollywood starlet as well as her abuse allegations against former partner Marilyn Manson.

Source: Variety.com

For more than two years, Oscar-nominated documentarian Amy Berg (“Deliver Us From Evil”) has been secretly working with Evan Rachel Wood on a documentary about Wood’s life as an actor and emergence as an activist — while also documenting her decision to come forward to allege that Marilyn Manson had “horrifically abused” her while they were in a relationship.

The result is “Phoenix Rising,” which was announced on Wednesday as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival lineup, and will air in two parts on HBO in the coming months.

Though Wood had spoken publicly about her experiences with domestic violence, and in 2019 had created the Phoenix Act, a bill that extends the statute of limitations on domestic violence from three years to five — which passed in California — it wasn’t until Feb. 1, 2021 that she accused Manson as being the perpetrator of that abuse in a post on Instagram.

Manson has denied all wrongdoing, and his representative had no further comment to Variety. But in the aftermath of Wood’s allegations — which opened the floodgates of other Manson accusers — his label, agent, manager and longtime publicist dropped him. Since then, Manson has been the subject of investigations by the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone.

In an interview this week, Berg said that Wood — whom she’d known for years through friends — approached her in 2019 about the film that would turn out to be “Phoenix Rising.” At the time, Berg felt that she wasn’t ready to take it on herself, but helped Wood film as she mounted her Phoenix Act campaign in California, and even sought out other potential directors for the documentary. When COVID-19 hit and everything shut down in spring 2020, Berg changed her mind and decided she wanted to helm the project herself.

“It wasn’t about Marilyn Manson, and his whole world,” Berg said of the origins of the project. “This was about an Erin Brockovich story. We were really focused on telling a story about empowerment, something that would offer resources for women and men who are stuck in abusive situations. And that was what we were making — until she decided to name him publicly.”

Berg and Wood — along with, Berg said, “a number of survivors” whom they were filming even before Wood accused Manson — were in production during COVID with a small crew. “It’s a really intimate portrait of Evan, and I had incredible access,” Berg said.

HBO officially signed onto the project in summer 2020. That September, Berg said Wood decided to accuse Manson after his new album came out, and her veiled allegations against him over the years resurfaced. “People started responding on Twitter, standing in support of Evan,” Berg said. They also learned of an FBI investigation into the singer, which other Manson accusers have also cited — though it’s never been officially confirmed, Berg claims that it’s ongoing.

Part 1 of the documentary ends during that time, with Part 2 — which Berg is still working on — focusing on Wood’s decision to come forward and the aftermath of that choice.

“Naming Manson obviously created a lot more story for us. It became a two-part film in the edit bay,” Berg said.

“Phoenix Rising” is a full portrait of Wood, delving into her family life and her career beginnings as a child actor — “and how she was forced into adulthood from such young age — like ‘Thirteen,’ and those roles,” Berg said.

“She’s so candid with us,” Berg said. “And it’s very personal.”

Source: Variety.com

I added new candids to the gallery of Evan arriving on the set of “Westworld” in New York on 6 October. Click on the gallery link to see all new photos.

I added new candids to the gallery of Evan seen at LAX on 5 August 2021. Click on the gallery link below to see all new photos.