00:00 - It's like Dr. Evil version of Madonna
00:03 that we have going on.
00:03 - And it's normally just like after a line
00:05 where I've said something like,
00:06 "Well, I trust you completely."
00:07 - Yeah, I love you more than anything.
00:08 (laughing)
00:10 - My whole life, all I wanted
00:13 is to make up new words to a song that already exists.
00:16 - Oh, well you should do that then.
00:19 (upbeat music)
00:22 - So Dan, I wanted to start with you.
00:24 Obviously you got to talk to Al
00:26 about how to portray his epic true life story.
00:29 But what I want to know is,
00:30 did you get any tips from him on how to handle an accordion?
00:33 'Cause those things get pretty heavy.
00:35 - Dude, literally most of the notes he gave me on set
00:39 were accordion notes.
00:41 And it was mostly the same note,
00:42 which is like, "Can you like pump it more, please?"
00:46 'Cause I think he, you know,
00:48 you can make an accordion make sound
00:49 with not very much movement there,
00:52 but he's accomplished and good at the instrument.
00:55 So he would like to look that way in his own life story.
00:58 And so he was coming in and just like gave,
01:00 honestly, that was pretty much it.
01:02 And he gave me a few, like,
01:03 we had a couple of lessons
01:04 where he was trying to teach me some stuff
01:06 and I picked up some of it, but also, you know,
01:09 he plays very fast and it's sometimes hard
01:11 to keep track of what's going on.
01:13 I literally like, having been able to play the accordion
01:16 as little as I can, I don't know how he like runs around
01:19 and plays polkas at the same time.
01:21 It is still incredible to me.
01:23 - There are a few things that ended up
01:25 on the cutting room floor.
01:28 Mostly it was, you know,
01:30 the tone that we were going for in this movie,
01:32 we're playing things really straight and really dramatic,
01:35 as absurd as the comedy gets.
01:37 Like all the actors are playing like
01:40 at the top of their emotional intelligence.
01:43 And whenever there was a gag or a joke
01:48 or a beat in one of the scenes
01:50 that was a little too pushed comedically
01:54 or like was just sort of like broke our tone a little bit.
01:59 We chopped it out.
02:02 One example, oh, here's a good example.
02:06 There in the trailer, in the first teaser that came out,
02:08 there's a shot where Dan says,
02:11 "Give me my accordion, three accordions come in, you know,
02:13 "somebody get me an accordion."
02:15 And it's like, it's really funny
02:17 and it feels like it's straight out
02:18 of a Weird Al music video, right?
02:19 It's like hilarious that there happens
02:22 to be three accordions randomly at this party
02:24 and they all come into frame.
02:25 - Anyone got an accordion?
02:27 - But like in the actual scene,
02:30 in trying to like build tension,
02:33 we're building up to him performing this song
02:35 in front of people.
02:36 A joke like that, as fun and visual as it was,
02:40 it just sort of like broke, it broke the tension.
02:43 And it like, you know, it made it so like
02:45 when he plays the song, it doesn't hit as hard.
02:48 So it was little things like that.
02:50 Thankfully we were able to put that moment in the trailer,
02:52 but there's like little moments like that
02:54 sprinkled throughout the movie
02:55 that had to come out for that reason.
02:57 I mean, maybe we'll, maybe all those things
02:59 that ended up on the floor,
03:00 we will release the Yankovic cut at some point
03:03 and put all that stuff back in.
03:06 - Now, Evan, you get to play the inimitable
03:09 and the dangerous Madonna.
03:11 Obviously there was that line between reality and fiction.
03:15 Can you give me the best example
03:16 of where that line between mimicry
03:18 and just digging into the weirdness really came into play?
03:21 - Oh, I don't want to give anything away,
03:25 but like anytime she, you know,
03:29 had these moments of like the villain twirling the mustache,
03:33 you know, whenever weird isn't looking at her
03:36 and she's just got this like twisted conniving,
03:39 like look on her face was probably,
03:42 those were the moments where it's like all day,
03:44 I'd be doing this, you know,
03:46 try to stay very true to the Madonna voice
03:48 and the Madonna vibe.
03:49 And then, you know, there would be these
03:51 just like ridiculous over the top villain moments
03:54 that like I would be asked to do.
03:56 And those always really made me laugh.
03:58 It's like Dr. Evil version of Madonna
04:01 that we have going on.
04:02 - And it's normally just like after a line
04:03 where I've said something like,
04:04 "Well, I trust you completely."
04:05 - Yeah, I love you more than anything.
04:07 (laughing)
04:09 - I think Madonna's a bad influence on you.
04:11 - What?
04:12 - No offense.
04:13 - If I remember reading correctly,
04:14 Aaron Paul was on tap for a cameo just,
04:17 and just before he was about to film and everything,
04:20 he was revealed to have COVID.
04:21 - Yes.
04:22 - Can you tell me what his cameo was supposed to be?
04:25 - Yeah, he was supposed to be a biker at the,
04:29 there's a scene where Al plays,
04:31 I Love Rocky Road at like a biker bar.
04:33 And Aaron was supposed to be like a heckler,
04:38 you know, just shouting Al down from the audience.
04:42 Yeah.
04:43 - This movie, I mean, this was just,
04:45 I was pleased to see how many cameos you got in here.
04:48 Was there anyone that you asked that declined
04:51 or just couldn't make it into the schedule?
04:53 - It was, no one flat out declined,
04:57 but there were, I think we went out to Mark Hamill
05:02 at one point, 'cause all of our cameos
05:06 were like our friends of Al's.
05:08 You know, we basically just, Al handed me his,
05:10 you know, Rolodex and was like,
05:11 "Go through there and let me know if you,
05:13 you know, any of these names I have
05:16 or people that you want to, you know, cast."
05:19 And then he would simply email or text the person
05:21 and ask them if they wanted to do it
05:22 and get immediate responses.
05:24 Everyone loves Al.
05:25 People are like, "Yeah, of course.
05:26 Tell me where to show up."
05:28 Mark Hamill, I can't remember what we went out to him for,
05:31 but unfortunately, yeah, I think he,
05:33 schedule wouldn't allow him to do it,
05:35 which, I mean, it would have been amazing to have him,
05:38 you know, we almost had Harry Potter
05:40 and Luke Skywalker to see together.
05:42 - See you around, kid.
05:45 - What was your favorite
05:46 or what was the most ridiculous moment to you
05:49 out of that whole collection?
05:51 - There were a couple of places I couldn't stop laughing.
05:53 One is when you're getting the phone call about "Eat It"
05:56 and you're like smashing the phone.
05:58 That was so, that was such a hilarious scene to shoot.
06:02 And like, I can't give the cameo away of the gator,
06:05 but when you knock the food out of his hand,
06:08 it just, that whole day was so epically like ridiculous.
06:12 - I mean, yeah, that's the thing.
06:16 It's so hard to pick.
06:17 I mean, the moment where I am coming out of an egg
06:22 covered in goo, naked, playing a guitar,
06:26 that was definitely like one of those where you're like,
06:27 wow, this is pretty out there.
06:30 And I, yeah, that's the thing.
06:32 You almost did get desensitized to it
06:36 'cause every day brought something and like something new.
06:39 And, but that was, yeah, that was part of the joy.
06:42 And part of the joy, like when I read the script,
06:43 you could just read that and go like,
06:45 oh, this is gonna be fun.
06:46 Like this is obviously gonna be incredible fun to make.
06:49 - Has there been any talk about bringing
06:51 Weird the Ali Yankovic Story to theaters?
06:54 - I mean, there's a lot of, we, it's,
06:58 I would love for that to happen.
07:01 I don't necessarily think that it is going to,
07:04 but you know, Roku's been kind enough
07:07 to set up all these amazing like festival screenings for us.
07:11 You know, we just played Beyond Fest in Los Angeles.
07:14 There's a handful of other, you know,
07:16 screenings coming up leading to our premiere.
07:19 And who knows, I feel like maybe someday
07:22 this feels like the kind of movie
07:24 that is going to have midnight screenings.
07:27 You know, it's like Rocky Horror,
07:29 like Wet Hot American Summer,
07:31 that people are gonna be showing up in Hawaiian shirts
07:34 and, you know, watching this movie in theaters,
07:37 you know, down the line for years.
07:39 I mean, that's the best life that I could,
07:41 you know, ever hope for it to have.
07:43 - Well, unfortunately our time is wrapped up today,
07:45 but I just want to say before I go,
07:47 you both have given the best Zucker Brothers style
07:50 make-out scene in history,
07:52 and I want to applaud you for that.
07:54 - That is huge.
07:55 There is truly no compliment higher.
07:57 - Thank you very much. - That's awesome.
07:58 Thank you.
07:59 (laughing)
08:00 (upbeat music)
08:00 - Thank you.
08:01 (upbeat music)
08:04 (upbeat music)
08:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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