Evan Rachel Wood was directed to play Madonna 'on a lot of cocaine' in bonkers Weird Al biopic

Evan Rachel Wood, who plays Madonna in the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, says director Eric Appel gave her a very specific note when it came to her "sociopathic" version of the pop superstar.

"Eric directed me in one scene to be Madonna on a lot of cocaine," she said during an interview with EW the morning after the movie's premiere at Toronto Film Festival. "She's very conniving and completely just using Weird Al, and everything she does is a pathological lie to get ahead in her career. So it was basically taking the genius that is Madonna and turning her into a sociopath that ends up running a drug cartel."

Adds Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the title character: "Our first day [together] was the mansion scene, and Evan came in and the relief of seeing her and knowing, Oh, she's f---ng game for it, committing a thousand percent… she just really got the tone and pace of the film and it was very exciting."

Weird, a highly fictionalized version of Weird Al Yankovic's life story, got an enthusiastic reception at the film's premiere, largely due to the actors' off-the-rails performances.

"Every character in this film starts as something you kind of recognize, and then you watch it explode into something truly insane," says Radcliffe, who says part of his process was prepping for his numerous shirtless scenes in the film. "I was randomly more half naked as Weird Al than any other character I've ever played. I'm like the cliche of the person who has stopped drinking and transferred that energy to something else."

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story premieres on Roku Nov. 4.

Related content:

• Daniel Radcliffe wants to keep playing the accordion after learning it for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
• Madonna seduces a ripped Weird Al in new trailer for Daniel Radcliffe's parody biopic
• Here's who's playing who in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
• See Abbott Elementary Emmy nominee Quinta Brunson as Oprah in the Weird Al biopic