Despite not having a ‘fro in real life, Daniel Radcliffe was cast to play bespectacled icon Weird Al Yankovic. While Radcliffe does bare some resemblance to the singer, we all know that if they were to make a movie about Elijah Wood, the Harry Potter star would nail that role flat-out. The British actor acknowledges that he looks like Elijah Wood and seems to love it when fans shout to him from moving cars and refer to him as the Lord of the Rings alum.
The resemblance between Daniel Radcliffe and Elijah Wood must come from their pale skin, blue eyes, similar stature, and similarly light brown hair. Whatever the reason why these two get mixed up for each other, the 33-year-old Radcliffe spoke on The Drew Barrymore Show about the first time someone mistook him for the Flipper star:
The first time it happened I was on a red carpet in Japan, and the guy that offered me the photo of Elijah Wood was Japanese and did not speak English. And I didn’t speak Japanese, so I either signed Elijah Wood or I maybe wrote, ‘I’m not Elijah Wood. - Daniel Radcliffe’
Sometimes, there’s no escaping an uncanny resemblance to another well-known performer. Drew Barrymore even mentioned to Radcliffe that people weirdly mistake her for Demi Moore due to their having similar names. Creepily, there are many of us who have doppelgänger. For example, a police officer went viral for looking like Jumanji’s Dwayne Johnson. Musician Katy Perry would even pretend to be Zooey Deschanel to get into clubs. So maybe Daniel Radcliffe could pretend to be Wood in order to benefit himself in some form or fashion (and not hurt the LOTR star's cred in doing so, of course).
The Horns star went on to say that he has no problem allowing people to mistake him for Elijah Wood if it makes their day. Apparently, people mistake the English actor for his American counterpart while they're driving:
But then a guy was driving past on the street – my favorite way to get recognized is by somebody shouting enthusiastically from a car as they continue about their day. It’s a nice moment but nothing gets bigger and it’s fine. But this guy like shouted out, ‘Hey Frodo, I loved the Lord of the Rings movies’ or something like that, and at that moment you go like like, ‘He’s going to have a really nice day if he thinks he met Frodo.’ So, I was just like, ‘Thanks man.’
Believe it or not, Elijah Wood and Daniel Radcliffe have the same reaction when people mix them up. Simply put, when people refer to these two actors by the other’s movies, they respond back with, “Nope.” So instead of people urging for these two actors to fight, we need to have a doppelgänger comedy starring the two of them. A story involving a simpleton becoming famous for being mistaken for a high-profile celebrity. I don't know about any of you, but I paid to see the two headline such a film.
You have to give Daniel Radcliffe credit for seeing the humor in the confused reactions fans have towards him. And of course, let's remember that there are plenty who know exactly who he is and love his work. On that note, you can see the talented actor take on the real-life role of a different performer in the newly released movie Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, which playing now on The Roku Channel.
