Daniel Radcliffe borrowed ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s accordion and immediately broke it

They say “never meet your heroes” because reality never really lives up to what we picture in our heads, but “you might break one of said hero’s prized possessions” seems pretty scary, too.

Daniel Radcliffe lived that exact nightmare recently as he prepped to play the lead role in an upcoming “Weird Al” Yankovic biopic. After sharing the story of how he got cast during a Friday appearance on The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon held up a picture of the Miracle Workers star posing proudly with one of Yankovic’s accordions.

Upon seeing the picture, Radcliffe launched into a story about how Yankovic lent him the pictured accordion to practice on as part of his prep for the role. He got to spend a month noodling with the instrument and getting a feel for it, but that blessed month almost went flying off the rails right at the start.

“On day two [of having the accordion] I broke one of the straps,” Radcliffe explained, eliciting immediate groans of worry and concern from the audience. “Yes,” the game Radcliffe deadpanned in response. “That’s how I felt.”

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Fortunately, it wasn’t a big deal at all. Radcliffe “immediately” replaced the straps and all was well in the end, thanks in part to Yankovic being who he is. “Thankfully, he’s like the nicest guy,” Radcliffe said. “If he was furious about it, he kept it to himself.”

Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic story was announced earlier in 2022 as a Roku-exclusive release. There’s no release date yet, but the movie is already in production. Watch the rest of the Tonight clip to hear Radcliffe recount exactly how Yankovic ended up casting him in the lead role.