By Tiffany Bird
Preston, Idaho: a small redneck town with a population of 4,682. The town is so small that it is still living in the 80s era. The joke of the town used to be the fact that the town had only one stoplight until a few years ago.
The high school is made up of cowboys and dorks. The popular club to join is Happy Hands, a dance group that uses sign language as its main dance moves. Bullies still pick on the nerd for lunch money, just like in elementary school.
This is the setting for the movie, 'Napoleon Dynamite,' which released in two movie theaters in Salt Lake City today.
A film was written and produced by a Preston local, Jared Hess. Hess studied film and met his wife and co-writer, Jerusha, at BYU.
While studying at BYU, Hess also recruited his classmates and friends to assist him in transforming the short film 'Peluca' into the full-length, 'Napoleon Dynamite.'
The people Hess knew growing up in Preston and his own family inspired the characters in the movie.
'I love these characters,' Hess said in a press release. 'I hope others will love them as much as I do. They are optimistic and oblivious to the world''s response to them, and to me, this film is about how these very unique and eccentric people pursue their dreams, no matter how simple and small.'
The movie portrays characters that are more than atypical. Napoleon, played by Jon Heder, a 3-D animation major at BYU, is the innocent nerd who loves drawing make-believe animals and believes girls only like boys who have skills such as throwing nunchucks. His 32-year-old brother, Kip, finds love through the chat rooms online and a serious relationship is established by the amount of hours spent chatting.
Uncle Rico comes to take care of Kip and Napoleon when their guardian, Grandma, got in a motorcycle accident doing a jump at the sand dunes. Uncle Rico is stuck in 1982, the year he missed his chance to become a football hero. So to make up for it, he films himself throwing football to an imaginary receiver.
Napoleon''s friends at school are just as unique as him. Deb sells plastic macrame key chains door-to-door and takes glamour photo of people when she needs some glamour help herself. Then there is Pedro, a new student to Preston High, who runs for student body president against the most popular girl in school.
Although the movie is peculiar to those unaware of life in a small town, people can still relate to the movie one way or another.
'It seemed kinda like it was real life,' said Mindy Smith who waited three hours to watch the movie at a free screening in Salt Lake City. 'It wasn''t really acting, it was more this average kid having a tough life. It was hilarious.'
Heder appeared on the 'Late Show with David Letterman' Wednesday promoting the movie and the comment made most by Letterman was how weird and strange this movie is.
'It''s a weird movie with a satisfying result,' said Letterman who recommends audiences to watch the movie twice. The first time to make sure the movie is okay and to understand its uniqueness, then the second time for its humor.
Hess created this movie from experience from his own life.
'He (Hess) was the king of dork and he was very proud of it,' said David Hollingsworth, who went to Preston High with Hess.
Hollingsworth said Hess started the trend of buying ugly clothes from Deseret Industry.
'He (Hess) was the student body president my junior year,' Hollingsworth said. 'And in a year he went from no one knowing who he was to instant popularity.'
Hess''s popularity came when he won the role of student body president by putting on a skit with his nerdy friends about the underdogs saving their fellow dork friend from a bully.
'He did this bizarre skit for the school and we thought that was the funniest thing we saw in our lives,' Hollingsworth said. 'So everybody just started talking about it and instantly he was popular.'
Although BYU students put the movie together, there is not a hint of LDS culture in 'Napoleon Dynamite' other than a Ricks College shirt. This is not your typical LDS movie.
Other BYU students and graduates involved in the film include Aaron Ruell who played Napoleon''s brother, Kip; Jeremy Coon who produced and edited the movie; Chris Wyatt, another producer and Munn Powell the director of photography.