June 11 was the 10-year anniversary of Napoleon Dynamite starring Jon Heder. Yesterday, Heder was reflecting on the film’s great success.
Napoleon Dynamite follows the story of Napoleon Dynamite, played by John Heder, a socially awkward high school student from Idaho who lives with his brother Kip, their grandmother, and Tina, their grandmother’s pet llama.
The movie was filmed on a $400,000 budget, and made $46 million worldwide.
Heder, along with director Jared Hess, and other cast members, celebrated the 10-year anniversary by gathering at Fox Studios in Los Angeles to unveil a bronze statue of Napoleon Dynamite.
In an interview, writer and director Jared Hess said that most of the dialogue and the events that happened in the move were taken from his life growing up. When his mother saw the film for the first time, she said, “Well, that was a lot of embarrassing family material.”
To this day, Heder still can’t escape his character on Napoleon Dynamite. “I love the movie. I’m so blessed that it was my first film. It’s very close to my heart.” Although he had other roles in movies, such as Blades of Glory and When In Rome, fans still recognize him for his role as Napoleon Dynamite.
While they were filming the movie, Heder recalled that the entire cast and crew joked that no one would ever see Napoleon Dynamite. However, they were surprised that the movie was a big hit when it screened at Sundance.
The movie has since acquired a cult following, and Heder has fans coming up to him for dance requests and autographs. He shared one of the strangest requests he has ever received – a fan wanted him to hurl a steak on his head.
“This kid came up with a steak and he wanted me to throw the steak at him as part of a retribution act for what Uncle Rico did to me,” Heder said. “So I got to throw a steak at someone and I nailed him and it felt great.”
Image via YouTube
