By Tiffany Bird
One day Jon Heder was a 3-D animation student at BYU, the next day a superstar in California for a movie that made over $42 million. That describes his life since the movie, 'Napoleon Dynamite,' came to selected theaters throughout the nation this past summer.
Heder, who plays Napoleon Dynamite, met the director of the movie, Jared Hess, in film classes at BYU. With other students hired as crewmembers, Hess and Heder made the short film 'Peluca,' which played at the Sundance Film Festival. From there, 'Peluca' turned into 'Napoleon Dynamite' and picked up by Fox Searchlight for distribution. It slowly climbed up the box office chart and to this day, remains in the top 20.
The Daily Universe had an exclusive interview with Heder, talking about his thoughts on the film, being famous and BYU.
Q: How did you and Jared Hess meet?
Heder: We met in the film program. We had been in couple classes together, some film classes... We worked on a few projects together, and he came to me about the short film, 'Peluca.' That''s how it started.
Q: What did you think of the movie when you first read the script?
Heder: The short script I thought was amazing. I thought it was brilliant, ingenious and the characters were awesome. I was really, really excited to be a part of it. I felt lucky that he had come to ask me to be a part of it because I thought Jared was a very funny and talented guy. The script was just so perfect.
Q: When you were acting it out, how much of Napoleon''s character was from you and how much of it was from Jared?
Heder: I think it was a little bit of a mix. I mean he wrote the character, but you don''t hear what he sounds like or see how he moves in the script. So Jared kind of had his own version. I just took what Jared did and I did my own thing and made it more realistic. He wasn''t telling me what to do. He interpreted the character in his own way, and I took that and put my own twist on it and he loved it. We both got a lot of the inspiration from our younger brothers. He wrote the characters with his brothers in mind, and I got a lot of the way Napoleon acts from my younger brothers.
Q: What did you think of Preston, Idaho, when you went there to film?
Heder: I think back to when we shot 'Peluca' because that was basically the first time I did that . I liked it, it was fun. It''s just a tiny little town with not much there, but it was a nice little place and it was pretty. The people are very nice. When we shot the movie, everybody was so nice and so helpful and wanted to be a part of this movie. I really liked it.
Q: What is your favorite part of the movie or your favorite line?
Heder: That''s always changing. It''s so hard. There are so many good lines. I think my favorite line is when Kip in response to Uncle Rico asking about looking legit, and Kip said, 'How about some gold bracelets?' I think that is one of my favorite lines.
But my three favorite scenes are where Kip is getting beat up by Rex from Rex Kwan Do. And then when Napoleon finds that ninja sai in D.I. - I love that scene where he picks up the sweet ninja sai and says, 'Dang!' I like that scene a lot. And I love where Napoleon and Pedro are taking that cake to Summer''s house. I just love that scene. I think it''s great.
Q: When you were making 'Napoleon Dynamite,' did you think your character would be such a hit?
Heder: I think, yeah. When we made the short film with 'Peluca,' we saw how well it did with the BYU audience. Everyone at BYU loved the short film. I saw what kind of effect it had in a small-scale area. People were just quoting him all the time. I didn''t know for sure, but I was thinking that if the rest of the country or other people are just like this around the country and see this, it could catch on the same way. I loved the character right away when I read it so I felt personally that he was a classic character. I wasn''t sure if he was going to become this great classic character, but he had already become one in my eyes.
Q: What is your reaction to the success of the movie?
Heder: It''s awesome. It''s cool. It''s great that people are loving the movie and watching it multiple times. The average person who loves the movie has seen the movie at least four times.
Q: What do you plan on doing once you are through with promoting Napoleon Dynamite?
Heder: I''m looking for more acting roles, reading lots of scripts, while looking to do new projects. I am going to try to write my own stuff. We''ll just see what happens.
Q: What do your parents think about the film?
Heder: I think they have your typical parent reaction. They thought that it was great that their son was in a movie. My mom said she gets the film, even though I''m still not quite sure she does. I think she gets some of it, but not all of it. But she said she does. And then my dad won''t admit it. He won''t say he gets it because he doesn''t. My dad is not a big film buff, so I think he got it as much as an older Mormon dad could get. He thought it''s great that his son was in a movie. He said, 'Good job, keep up the good work. Just remember who you are,' kind of thing.
Q: What''s the hardest thing to do while you were acting this role in the movie?
Heder: The dance thing, I guess. I was nervous for the dancing scene. I wanted it to look good, but I didn''t have any plans. I just got up there and winged it. So, I wasn''t sure if it was going to be good. I was a little nervous for that. But other than that, nothing was really too difficult.
Running around in that wool suit that I wore to the dance was pretty hot. And playing with the chickens was tough at first, but it wasn''t too bad at the end. Riding the horse, that was difficult. I don''t know if you saw the extra ending. I ride a horse in the extra ending at the very end. I don''t know if that counts because that wasn''t really a part of the movie.
Q: Was that the first time you had ridden a horse?
Heder: It was basically the first time. The last time I rode a horse was back when I was in Boy Scouts. I wasn''t totally new to it, I tried to act like a pro, and I look like an idiot.
Q: What was it like to see yourself on the big screen for the first time?
Heder: It''s hard to say because the first time I saw it, it was up at Sundance. And at Sundance, it doesn''t feel like you are going to a regular movie theater. It''s a festival. You know you are there with a lot of people who have been on films there, who are trying to make it big. So it''s a very exciting time. Some of it is much more heightened than a regular viewing at a regular theater.
Q: Did you get to keep anything from the set or the movie as a souvenir?
Heder: I got to keep most of the clothes. I also got to keep the 'Pegasus X-ing' sign. That was my favorite. And some of Napoleon''s posters.
Q: Do you plan on wearing any of those clothes ever again?
Heder: Oh, I''m sure sometime. A couple t-shirts I may wear around, we''ll see. The only problem with wearing it now, especially in California, is people might recognize it too easily and say, 'Hey, why are you wearing that?' But we''ll see.
Q: Do you like tater tots?
Heder: Of course I do! Who doesn''t? Well, there are a lot of people who don''t. All those carb-dieting freaks out there don''t like tots.
No, tots are great. I wouldn''t say I grew up on them, like they were the main diet, but I had them on my lunch tray when I was a kid in elementary school, and they are crispy and delicious.
Q: Where did you get those dance moves in the movie?
Heder: I got them from watching Michael Jackson videos, John Travolta, Justin Timberlake and Usher and whoever can dance good.
Q: Did you practice dancing for the movie in front of a mirror?
Heder: Well actually, I guess you can say dancing in front of the mirror was my practice. Honestly I didn''t practice at all. I was basically relying on how I normally dance, which is in front of a mirror, alone in my bedroom. That was kind of the way I always did my dance... Jared had seen it when we shot the short film a number of years ago, and decided, 'Hey, let''s put it in the film.' I was like, 'OK.' I didn''t know how to choreograph anything.
Q: Have you sat in a regular movie theater to watch the audience''s reaction to your movie?
Heder: I''ve done that once or twice. I haven''t done it a lot just because it is dangerous to do that. It was more towards the beginning before the movie became something big. So both times I went it was more like crickets and wind blowing, just not a lot of reactions.
Q: In real life, do you say 'gosh' often?
Heder: I think I say it more now just because I''ve seen the movie so many times, and it kind of blended with my own character. But yeah, I said it before the movie. I think maybe that''s one of the reasons why Jared came to me about the character I''m not sure. Yeah, I said 'gosh' a lot.
Q: Was that your real hair in the movie or was it a wig?
Heder: It was my real hair but it was a perm. My hair is not naturally that curly. I don''t look a lot like the character, good to say.
Q: If you can co-star with anyone in a movie, who would it be?
Heder: That''s a good question. I think Will Farrell would be funny or Jack Black. Those comedians are great.
Actually I would like to be in a movie with someone who won''t out-shine me, like some teenybopper. I would love to be in a buddy comedy with Chad Michael Murray from 'One Tree Hill.' It would be sweet to be in a movie with him. There are a lot of good actors out there that would be pretty cool to work with.
Q: What do you hope Santa will bring you this year?
Heder: I want a new bike. Gosh, that sounds like a little boy but that''s true. I need a new bike. I have this old bike that I got from my parents when I was 12 years old, and I''ve had it since. It''s been working great but it''s kind of starting to tatter down. I need a new, sweet BMX bike or at least something. That would be a great toy for Christmas.
Q: Did you graduate from BYU?
Heder: No, I did not graduate, yet... I''m two classes away and I will. I will graduate, that is a statement.
Q: Do you plan on coming back to BYU to finish or do independent study?
Heder: They are two classes that I can take independently. My time at BYU is done. I''ve been there long enough. I paid my dues, well, almost all of them. I paid off all my parking tickets. I''m maybe the only BYU student who can say that.
Q: Because you studied 3-D animation at BYU, do you plan on staying with acting or go into an animation career?
Heder: I want to do both. Right now I am going to continue to do more acting. But in the future I really want to do something more in the world of animation.
Q: What do you miss most about Provo or BYU?
Heder: I think the friends. I had so many good friends there, and some family. It was fun. The college life was fun. Leaving Provo and BYU is basically leaving that section of your life behind. We were in a great ward, so it was sad to leave that ward.
Q: Did you go on a mission? Where did you go?
Heder: I did. I went to Tokyo North Mission in Japan.
Q: What is the best thing about being famous?
Heder: I would have to say the best thing is just the people you meet. Now that I have an agent, they set up meetings with some cool people in the industry, with people that I''ve always known of, like directors and producers.
Q: Who is the coolest person you''ve met since you became famous?
Heder: I''ve met a lot of cool people. Casper Van Dien. That''s the coolest person I''ve met yet. He''s totally sweet. He''s an actor. He hasn''t done a lot of big stuff, but I like him a lot.
Q: What''s the worst stuff about being famous?
Heder: The worst part, probably walking the red carpet... I feel like I don''t belong there.