Hawaiian shirts filled the seats of the IU Cinema on Friday night as Weird Al fans gathered for a screening of "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story."
The movie is based on a fake trailer, made by Funny or Die in 2010, that parodies trailers of biographical films on musicians. The trailer featured Aaron Paul as Weird Al, and fans questioned whether the satirical movie was going to ever be made.
Just like the Funny or Die trailer, which has been shown at “Weird Al” Yankovic concerts for about a decade, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” parodies the biopic genre of musicians. Daniel Radcliffe plays Yankovic, illustrating a fictional narrative of the accordion player’s life.
Throughout the exaggerated story, the fictionalized Yankovic struggles with alcoholism and narcissism, which stems from his need to appease his parents, who seemingly hate the accordion, Hawaiian shirts and changing the lyrics of songs.
In the back of the audience at IU Cinema, producer Mike Farah, who helped created the original Funny or Die trailer, waited for his post-show Q&A During the discussion, Farah talked about the movie, his life and behind-the-scenes work done for movies he produces.
Farah graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 2001, and he moved to Los Angeles in 2002. Though he didn’t know anyone, he happened to run into someone who went to IU. From there, she helped him get a job as a food expeditor in a local restaurant.
There, many of his coworkers were creatives, making short films and screenplays. Through this avenue, Farah got into producing by helping his friends out with their work.
As he delved deeper into the production business, he began working on producing short-form video content during the beginning stages of the internet. Throughout his comedic pursuits, big names within the industry began to take notice.
"I was just making and producing a lot of short form comedy videos,” Farah said. “And Will Ferrell and Adam McKay had just started Funny or Die, and they saw some of the videos I had produced, and they featured them. And that’s how I got my job as producer there.”
Now CEO of Funny or Die, an independent studio in Los Angeles, Farah has worked his way through an industry that was once foreign to him. Additionally, he’s amassed three Emmy awards and 10 nominations for movies, short films and sketches.
Farah visited Bloomington for three days, speaking with business and film students. He shared his last night in Bloomington with Weird Al fans for a screening of one of his production credits.
IU student Angel Gonzalez, who attended the movie screening, takes over WIUX at 4 p.m. every Sunday for their show “My Music Wants to Kill Your Mama.” Their segment features novelty acts, and, most frequently, Weird Al.
“I saw it the day it came out. I loved it then, I love it now,” Gonzalez said. “The only difference is when I saw it, of course, it was released on Roku only. So, when I saw that, I just had the experience of sitting enjoying it myself but seeing it with a group of people as the Lord intended, as Al said it was just, I mean, it was just a whole other thing.”
Before the screening, Yankovic appeared on screen to deliver a personal message to the IU Cinema audience. In the message, he referenced how “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” was made for streaming platforms, but in the cinema, it was being shown on the big screen.
Farah explained that the production of comedy movies, especially comedy movies produced with the intention of a theatrical release, is at an all-time low. He views the comedy market as something that can connect people from different backgrounds, creating iconic moments in popular culture.
“I do think when comedies went to the streaming platforms, they kind of lost the zeitgeist,” Farah said. “And comedy needs this experience, and people need to feel that energy of laughing together for something to enter the zeitgeist and to have a cultural impact.”
John Marshall, a junior studying film, came to see the movie for his cinematic workshop class. While he’s not a comedy person, he still felt the impact of the moving energy and laughter within the audience.
“I thought this production was really well done,” Marshall said. “You can tell people cared.”
