You’re a lizard, Harry! Weird Al has revealed that Warner Bros. denied his request to write and record a Harry Potter parody titled “Hedwig’s Theme.”
While promoting Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Weird Al revealed that he went to Warner Bros. for permission but was snubbed. “Whenever it was, about a decade or two ago, I approached the movie company just to get a general blessing like, ‘Hey, I’d like to do a Harry Potter parody.’ And I think they said no, or they never responded or whatever…But sometimes when you’re dealing with franchises, and you ask permission, you know, there’s so many people that can say no, and they usually do.”
It should be noted that Yankovic doesn’t actually need permission, as parody falls under fair use. But since he’s the world’s greatest person, he decided to ask for permission anyway. Or maybe he didn’t want another Coolio situation…Weird Al has done parodies of major franchises before, like “The Saga Begins”, an “American Pie” parody about The Phantom Menace, and “Ode to a Superhero”, a “Piano Man” parody about the first Spider-Man movie.
It seems as though Weird Al has learned a lesson from this. “If I’m doing a franchise, it’s usually better just to do it and ask for forgiveness rather than permission.”
Still, Weird Al did end up with a tie to the Harry Potter franchise after all, as Daniel Radcliffe wound up playing the accordion-slingin’ icon in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. “Maybe that’s what this film is…This has been his way of doing a Harry Potter parody,” said Radcliffe. Yankovic tied it all together, saying, “We like to think that [Weird: The Al Yankovic Story] is the last movie of the Harry Potter franchise.” Now a showdown between Weird Al and Voldemort is something we need to see. Expelliarmus Accordionus!