-Our next guest is an Emmy-nominated actress
you know from her work on "Westworld" and "Mildred Pierce"
and "The Wrestler."
She stars as Madonna in the movie
"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,"
which premieres November 4th on Roku Channel.
Let's take a look.
-Okay, here's my thought.
I think this is a really great idea.
I hope you like it.
We team up, right?
I'll write all the, you know, good songs, the real ones,
and then you parody them every time.
Bam! Bam!
It's perfect. [ Laughs ]
-Sounds great. -It's fool-proof.
We'll be unstoppable.
We'll be the hottest power couple
in the entire music industry.
What would our power-couple name be?
I'm thinking Madyankovic
or Madonnavic.
Or maybe just Madonna.
-Please welcome back to the show Evan Rachel Wood, everyone.
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
Welcome back. I'm so happy to have you.
-I'm so happy to be back. It's been a minute.
-It has been a while.
This is such a fun reason to have you here.
This movie is a biopic about Weird Al
that takes a lot of liberties with the truth.
-Oh, it's 100% accurate.
I don't know what you're talking about.
-Was it as much fun to make as it was to watch?
-We had such a blast. We had 18 days to shoot this.
-You shot it in 18 days? That is no days.
-It's zero days, yes. It's like student-film days.
-Yes. -But we did.
We had an amazing cast and crew.
Daniel Radcliffe is, like, an absolute dream to work with.
And I'm addicted to comedies now.
I'm worried that I'm only gonna want to do comedies now.
-Well, it was such a nice shift.
I mean, you're obviously a wonderful dramatic actress,
but it was so much fun to see
you doing something that seemed like --
-Is this what you guys do?
You show up you and make each other laugh?
You don't have to get dragged through the mud
or scream or anything?
-Yeah, it was very -- You do get dragged through the mud
a great deal in some of your work.
-Well, that is true. Yes, yes.
-But you mentioned working with Daniel, which is so cool.
And I know you have a 9-year-old.
Is your 9-year-old into "Harry Potter"?
Was that a big deal that you were working with Daniel?
-Of course, yes. Definitely.
We watched all of the "Harry Potter" films together.
And I told him I would be working with Daniel Radcliffe.
And he said, "Oh, can I come to set?"
And I went, "Ah, no," because I didn't know how to tell my son
that part of my job was to just violently make out
with him throughout the entire film.
I'm like, "You can't come and watch mom
make out with Harry Potter, no."
-You're like, "Even wizards grow up."
-Yeah. And -- Exactly.
And, you know, but no playing with wands.
We're not going to do this, no.
-So, you play Madonna in the film.
-Yes.
-And this is a -- You know,
there have been so many eras in her iconic music career,
but this seemed like a particularly fun era.
One of your favorite Madonna eras?
-Absolutely. Absolutely.
I mean, I've been such a huge fan of hers since I was a kid.
I would, you know, fake sick so I could
stay home from school to lip-sync
"The Immaculate Collection."
And I totally got busted by my mom once, like,
in a mid-knee slide with the candlestick microphone.
And, you know, I was like...
♪ Like a Pra-- ♪
And she was like, "You're not sick, go to school."
So, yeah, I've been training my whole life for this.
-How do you prep to play Madonna?
Especially because there's got to be a level of accuracy,
but, also, it's a comedy, so you don't have to take it
as seriously as a biopic.
But you also can't just mail it in.
-No. And I did take it very seriously.
It felt like the pressure was slightly off
because it wasn't a Madonna biopic.
It was a parody.
But, yes, I still wanted it to be good.
I kind of wanted, you know, people to be like,
"Yeah, you know, the Madonna biopic was really good,
but did you see Evan Rachel Wood do
the Madonna in the Weird Al movie?"
Like, that was kind of the goal.
-You have been lucky enough to meet the real Madonna?
-Yes. Yes. -And wow was your time with her?
-We had a lovely time together. We had dinner once.
We've been very friendly.
I don't know if she'll be calling me after this,
because I didn't know that they didn't have her permission.
Once I signed on,
I found out we were like halfway through shooting.
-Yeah. On day nine?
-Day nine, I was like, "So, what did Madonna say
when you asked her about this?"
And they were like, "We never talked to Madonna."
I was like, "Great."
-It will be very funny if you get a text from her
that makes it very clear that she's seen the film.
-Or I don't get a Christmas card this year.
-Yes, exactly.
But it is such a -- And, again, that era, I think,
for everybody -- I mean, Daniel obviously has
a very fun wardrobe, as well, getting to be Weird Al.
But dressing up like Madonna from the '80s --
it's so much fun.
-I never wanted to take the clothes off.
And every day, I came to work thinking like,
"I wonder if this is ever going to get old
or I'm gonna get jaded about this."
Nope. It was always just as fun.
I couldn't stop doing Dubsmashes.
Couldn't stop listening to Madonna music.
We all had a great time, especially, like,
hair and makeup, as well.
-You mentioned your kid getting to meet Daniel.
Have you worked with other co-stars over the years
that are impressive to a 9-year-old?
-Yes, absolutely.
I mean, he could barely get out a word when he met Daniel.
-And it should be noted, Daniel, I would imagine,
has been through that before and is probably the best at it,
maybe better than anyone in the world.
He's the sweetest guy in the world.
And he's very aware that when he meets kids,
it's going to be harder for the kid than it is for him.
-Exactly. I mean, I can't even imagine how many times
he's been asked to do that.
Handled it so well.
I think my child got out maybe three words.
And I was like, "Daniel, thank you so much.
You know, sorry, you know, they only said three things."
And he went, "Oh, that's impressive.
Three words is very impressive. Most kids just hide.
I don't even see them."
And so I was like, "Okay, you did good."
But I think the only other time he really geeked out
was when after I had done "Frozen 2"
and he got to meet Josh Gad,
who does the voice of Olaf, and didn't believe that he was
Olaf until he was like, "Alright, close your eyes."
And then he whispered, "I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs."
And my child just went...
And, like, you know, major mom points.
-It can break different ways, because every now and then,
I've been lucky enough to -- A friend of mine has done
a voiceover, and I do the same thing with my kids.
And I think, sometimes, they don't love it.
Like, they like to picture
the sort of clean lines of animation,
and when they meet, like, my scraggly dope friends,
they're like, "Oh, I don't like this at all.
-"Ooh! That's not --" No.
-"I don't like that you were in my iPad."
-I can imagine.
-You have a band. -Yes.
-And your band performed on Halloween.
-We did. We performed in New York on Halloween.
-Have you often done Halloween shows?
-We do a Halloween show every year.
-Fantastic. -Yes.
-I'm so jealous at the fact you have
Halloween plans that you know what they're gonna be.
-Every year. -Yeah.
And you get to be onstage, and I would imagine
people are having the best possible time
at a show like that.
-They are.
And this was the first time we had done a Halloween show
in New York.
And I always get, like, slightly intimidated
because I love New York and I always want to impress
the crowd, but I always forget what a great audience they are.
They're so receptive.
They're, like, theater people. They love a good show.
And so it was great. We had an amazing time.
Everyone was singing along.
-Are you costumed on a Halloween show?
-Oh, yes. -Okay.
This year, we dressed as Miriam and John
from the movie "The Hunger."
It's a vampire movie, yeah, from the '80s.
-[ Laughs ] -What are you laughing?
-That is the deepest cut. [ Laughter ]
Oh, my God, Miriam and John from "The Hunger."
I saw so many of those this year.
-We're a niche band, you know? -Yeah, you're a niche band.
Right, right.
And then, when you look out in the audience, though,
do you feel like your audience are niche with their costumes
or are you like, "Oh, there's Mario.
There's Waldo."
-Well, I did see a Judy Funnie from "Doug."
-Okay. -That was a deep cut for me.
But I also see a lot of Dolori is what I like to call them,
dressing up like Dolores from "Westworld."
-Oh, that must be weird.
-A lot of blue dresses. Yeah.
A lot of Dolori in the audience.
-Now, when you're performing for people in costume,
do you, as a performer, know there are people in costume
or do you allow yourself to believe that those characters,
those fictional characters, have come to see you in a show?
-Wow. You know, I never thought about that,
but the next time I do a show,
I'm absolutely going to think that.
-Well, look, congratulations on the movie.
It is really so much fun and,
like I was saying backstage, such a funny idea.
The execution is so much more impressive.
I was delighted by how many twists and turns there were.
And you're really great.
And thanks so much for being here.
-Thanks for having me. -Always a pleasure to see you.
-Yeah. -Evan Rachel Wood, everybody.
"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story" premieres tomorrow
on The Roku Channel.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."