Evan Rachel Wood takes on the role of Madonna in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but a villainous version of her. Wood discusses in this interview.
Evan Rachel Wood On Playing A Villainous Version Of Madonna
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is exactly the type of biopic that you expect it to be — a massive parody of one. There are sprinklings of truth in it, but for the most part it is a gross exaggeration of his life. Evan Rachel Wood plays the role of Madonna in Weird. She is not the iconic version we all know and love, but rather a mustache twirling villain. Wood says that this actually is what allowed her to fully embrace the role and feel that she could take it on.
“It’s got this like Natasha and Boris from Rocky and Bullwinkle sort of feel to it. I love it. It made playing Madonna more appealing, because I think it would be to pressure to be her in like a straight biopic, although I am excited to see that. I personally don’t think I could do that without having a panic attack. So this was like, Oh, wow, I get to play Madonna, but I get to be a little loose with it. So that that made it very appealing.”
Wood goes on to explain that she still took her job very seriously, even though she was able to play around with the character.
“We knew it was a parody, but we still wanted to give really good performances and Eric and I discussed what the tone was going to be. I told him upfront I’m still I’m going to take this very seriously and I’m gonna give you my best Madonna — the best I can do you know what the amount of time that I had. I knew that if I could hook the audience in the beginning and really route that in reality then it gave me room later on to just fly completely off the rails with her.”
Of course getting to dress up like such an iconic person has its appeal as well. For Evan Rachel Wood, she says who hasn’t wanted to put on the early 80s Madonna get up? She certainly did!
“I never wanted to take the wardrobe off at the end of the day. It never got old. I thought I wonder if it’s ever gonna be like, Oh, I am at work. I’m gonna dress up like Madonna. Never not once. Always fun. I just danced around to the music. And people called me Madonna. When I came to set it was like Madonna. Madonna is on her way. Madonna is in her chair. Madonna needs a sandwich. And then, like, I could see people getting visibly flustered. And I was like, wow, this really is like being able to wear her skin for a few hours out of the day.”
See Evan Rachel Wood become a completely different version of Madonna, but a really fun one, when Weird: The Al Yankovic Story hits the Roku Channel on November 4th.
Full Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Interview
Be sure to check out the full interview with Daniel Radcliffe, Evan Rachel Wood, Eric Appel, & Al Yankovic to learn about how this film came about, behind the scenes antics, and more.
NEXT: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Review (2022 Movie)
About Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Daniel Radcliffe is “Weird” Al Yankovic in the unexaggerated true story about the greatest musician of our time. From a conventional upbringing where playing the accordion was a sin, Al rebelled and made his dream of changing the words to world-renowned songs come true.
An instant success and sex symbol, Al lives an excessive lifestyle and pursues an infamous romance that nearly destroys him.
