Featuring major plot points such as ligers, chapstick, selling Tupperware and an epic solo dance sequence to "Canned Heat" by Jamiroquai, no other film comes close to offering what Napoleon Dynamite gave film lovers almost 18 years ago.
The film is lovingly embraced as a bonafide cult classic nowadays. It's widely loved by myriad audiences who understand the appeal of a simple, slapstick-esque film that leaves you asking "What was that even about?" once you've finished. (And maybe with a hankering for some tots.) More than a hit, the movie became an absolute phenomenon and was quoted everywhere from middle school hallways to the MTV Music Video awards.
"It's about this crusty-looking kid who wears awkward clothes and moon boots," says Jon Heder, who plays the film's titular character. "'Crusty' embodies everything about Napoleon Dynamite. Not in a malicious way — he just wants to be cool, and he doesn't give a crud about what people think about him."
Before Napoleon Dynamite premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2004, Heder and Jared Hess, eventual director of the film, worked on a short film together called Peluca, which unknowingly became the predecessor of Napoleon Dynamite.
Peluca, which means wig in Spanish, is like a younger sibling of Napoleon. Though much shorter, many aspects made it into the full-length movie: the action figure that gets thrown out of a school bus window in the opening scene, lunchroom antics, and Pedro, the fiercely loyal friend of the main character.
"It all started with one class I took in college: intermediate production," Heder says. "We all had to make short films for an assignment. Jared approached me and asked me to be the bully character in Peluca, but then said, 'Maybe you'd do better with the main character.' That character, Seth, was who eventually turned into the character of Napoleon."
After the premiere of the short film at Slamdance Film Festival in 2003, Hess began work on turning it into a feature-length film.
The entirety of Napoleon was filmed in a tiny, rural Idaho town called Preston, just 12 miles north of the Utah border where Hess had spent summers in his childhood. The air was dry, and the sun blazed down on the actors and film crew all hours of the day. Dedicated fans make the pilgrimage to Preston to this day, visiting Napoleon's house, the thrift store where he buys his incredible brown suit, and to the co-op where Napoleon made a dollar an hour rearranging "large talon"-ed chickens.
"I actually never saw the full thing until it premiered at Sundance," Heder says. "I just remember it being a whirlwind and thinking to myself 'How many people are gonna see it, and what kind of people are gonna see it?'"
Once Napoleon Dynamite was officially released in June 2004, Heder was approached by celebrities like Tom Cruise, David Letterman and James Cameron who confessed their love for the movie.
"That June after Sundance is when I noticed a huge shift in my life," Heder says. "I was no longer Jon Heder, I was Napoleon Dynamite."
Whenever he's approached in public, Heder says it's almost always a fan of Napoleon asking for a photo or for him to recite an iconic quote. Heder has appeared in other comedy films like The Benchwarmers and Blades of Glory, where he stars as Jimmy MacElroy alongside Will Ferrell, who plays his nemesis-turned-ice skating partner, Chazz Michael Michaels, but Heder says that Napoleon still has life left in it thanks to the diehard fans.
"A few years ago we started talking about doing a mini show," Heder says. "It was sort of unplanned and out of the blue, but now we're touring around doing the Film and Conversation events, and it's just a bucket of fun."
The Napoleon Dynamite Film and Conversation is finally coming to Spokane after some rescheduling due to the pandemic. On April 16, local fans of Napoleon Dynamite can make their way to the Fox Theater for a showing of the movie and a Q&A with Jon Heder and Efren Ramirez, who starred as Pedro Sanchez.
"It's always so fun to get back together with the cast," Heder says. "We have the best time, we mess around, and the fans are what really make it. People come dressed up in 'Vote for Pedro' shirts, and so many people bring tots with them. We have such a well-rounded and healthy fan base. You would think this movie would draw in weirdos, but everyone is always just the best."
In the 18 years since its release, the world has changed immensely, but Napoleon Dynamite will always be there to celebrate the nerd within all of us.
"I hope that we can bring in a new generation of Napoleon lovers," Heder says. "It changed my life and so many others, it's such a special thing." ♦
