{"id":131880,"date":"2024-06-14T11:03:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T10:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/?guid=c2bfa0472b4a83a102dbaf666d7fec50"},"modified":"2024-06-14T11:03:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T10:03:17","slug":"it-was-hard-to-hit-me-in-the-face-with-the-steak-jon-heder-on-20-years-of-napoleon-dynamite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/14\/it-was-hard-to-hit-me-in-the-face-with-the-steak-jon-heder-on-20-years-of-napoleon-dynamite\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It was hard to hit me in the face with the steak\u2019 \u2013 Jon Heder on 20 years of Napoleon Dynamite"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A<\/span>ctors can go entire careers without creating characters that withstand the test of time but what happens when they achieve that goal straight off the bat? That\u2019s what happened to Jon Heder, star of Jarred Hess\u2019s 2004 word-of-mouth megahit Napoleon Dynamite. Turning 20 this week, Heder\u2019s wholly original portrayal of a high school oddball with a tight blonde \u2018fro, scuffed Moon Boots and slick dance skills was so instantly memorable, his life \u2013 and our relationship with Jamiroquai earworm \u2018Canned Heat\u2019 \u2013 were never quite the same again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first movie I ever made and we didn\u2019t even know that it would necessarily be seen by anyone,\u201d says Heder of Hess\u2019s scrappy first film. Thankfully they were way off the mark: \u201cWord of mouth got around and we soon started realising that people were loving it,\u201d he adds, remembering its surprise success. \u201cSuddenly, I had this huge opportunity. I didn\u2019t want to pass it up but I also realised there\u2019s a good chance I\u2019m going to be remembered for Napoleon for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heder and Hess first met as film students in 2002 and quickly found they had a shared sense of humour and a fascination with small-town obscurities. Not long after, they made Peluca, Hess\u2019s student short in which Heder played Seth, an overly-confident nerd who would eventually become Napoleon Dynamite.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Jared] just said \u2018Hey, do you want to make this short with me?\u2019 and I was like \u2018Let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d says Heder, who at that point had zero acting experience. \u201cIt helped us establish the pacing, cadence, sound and look of Napoleon and everything about him. It wasn\u2019t until after the short that [Hess] said \u2018I\u2019m thinking of making a movie based on this character, what do you think?\u2019\u201d Undeterred by the pressure of carrying an entire feature film, Heder wasted no time signing up: \u201cI was like \u2018Yes. I\u2019m totally game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cribbing from real things they\u2019d experienced in small-town Idaho, Hess and his wife Jerusha wrote a story unlike any other high-school movie. Heder played its eponymous star, a teenage outsider who lives with his grandma (Sandy Martin), dweeby brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) and Tina the llama in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n

Despite frequently bragging about his sick b\u014d staff skills and ability to catch delicious bass, Napoleon struggles through high school, with his life made worse following the arrival of his sleazy Uncle Rico (Jon Gries). However, when his new best friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) decides to run for class president, Napoleon spies a way to support his pal while showing the popular kids exactly what he\u2019s made of.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe both had a very clear idea of the world, who this character is and what he\u2019s about,\u201d says Heder on building the film\u2019s off-beat vibe and Napoleon\u2019s thrift-store aesthetic. \u201cJared pulled so much inspiration from himself and his younger brothers and when I read [the script], I was like \u2018Oh, there\u2019s stuff about me and my younger brothers here too,\u2019\u201d he says of Napoleon\u2019s distinctly insular awkwardness. \u201cThere was also a loneliness to the character, something that made him a bit of a lone wolf. He\u2019s a one-man band who marches to the beat of his own drum.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With high school hits like American Pie and Old School still very much in the rear-view mirror, Heder was convinced that pop culture needed Napoleon at that particular moment. He wasn\u2019t even put off by his strange dialogue and monotone line delivery. \u201cWhile it was weird, it all made sense,\u201d he tells us. \u201cThe way he brags and pushes the truth to look cool and gain acceptance but in an innocent way\u2026 it was time for this character to be on screen so I was 100% in,\u201d smiles Heder. \u201cI was going to get a perm, wear the Moon Boots and fully commit. I wasn\u2019t going to hold anything back.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he didn\u2019t. Heavily quotable dialogue aside, Napoleon Dynamite features plenty of memorable moments and strong visual gags. Heder put his head through three perms to secure the right look (\u201cMy hair had so many chemicals in it, it was almost about to fall out,\u201d he admits) and even did his own stunts \u2013 including being on the receiving end of a steak to the face.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard to hit me in the face with the steak,\u201d says Heder of the scene where an angry Uncle Rico whips a cutlet at an unsuspecting Napoleon. \u201cJared wanted it to look as good as it could and [Gries] was the one who was actually throwing it, which speaks to the nature of independent filmmaking,\u201d he adds. \u201cTypically, you\u2019d have someone else throwing a fake steak.\u201d<\/p>\n

After failing a number of times, a determined Gries made a small change and finally secured the perfect shot: \u201cHe switched to an even bigger steak, something with girth that he could really aim and throw,\u201d reveals Heder. \u201cHis first take nailed me and it hurt. It ripped my glasses off but inside I was thinking \u2018That\u2019s the shot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other scenes spoke to the characters\u2019 determination to escape their small-town lives, like Napoleon\u2019s unfortunate experience with Uncle Rico\u2019s internet-bought \u2018time machine.\u2019 \u201cThat was based on a true story that happened to Aaron Ruell\u2019s younger brother,\u201d says Heder, revealing how Kip\u2019s real-life sibling inspired the scene where a fake time machine electrocutes Napoleon. \u201cThat scene or the scenes on the chicken farm \u2013 you just know they\u2019re based on real things. They\u2019re weird but I love how they added to the craziness of how these characters actually believed this might work,\u201d he laughs. \u201cNapoleon, Kip and Rico especially are all desperate to get out of these lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, this weirdness culminates with a real showstopper when Napoleon helps Pedro land the class president job by busting out his best dance moves to Jamiroquai’s Canned Heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat all came from me,\u201d says Hader, telling us how Hess wrote the film\u2019s climax after hearing his star liked to dance. \u201cThere was pressure, for sure. I was like \u2018Should I choreograph it?\u2019 but Jared was like \u2018What do you normally do?\u2019 and I told him I normally just freestyle so he said \u2018Just do that.\u2019 I kicked everybody out,\u201d he continues, remembering how the sequence was shot. \u201cIt was just Jared, the cinematographer and the producer. When I was done, it wasn\u2019t like in the movie where suddenly there was raucous applause. It was more like: \u2018Did that work?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Thankfully, it did. Nobody saw Napoleon\u2019s impromptu dance moves coming and they were an instant hit. For Heder, it was validation for the underdog: \u201cI can\u2019t think of anything more raw than putting yourself out there in front of all these students he was trying so hard to look cool in front of,\u201d he reasons. \u201cBeing as socially awkward as Napoleon is, dancing just felt like the perfect thing for him to showcase because audiences just didn\u2019t know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

20 years later, Napoleon Dynamite has bonded with fans in many unexpected ways \u2013 and Heder has heard about them all \u201cIt\u2019s incredible that this movie has soared for this long and solidified its place in pop-culture history. I\u2019m now getting fans who say they grew up on this film or that it made their sense of humour,\u201d he smiles. \u201cPeople have told me how it helped them through dark times and lots of soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan told me their unit would watch it on repeat. It\u2019s really cool to think we were with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the journey of creating a memorable performance straight out of the gate has been just as personal for its star: \u201cCasting directors sometimes think \u2018Well that\u2019s you, isn\u2019t it? Wasn\u2019t this basically just a documentary?\u2019 It\u2019s always been tough to break that mould,\u201d admits Heder of Napoleon\u2019s larger-than-life endurance, \u201cbut I\u2019m very grateful for that role. I\u2019m still remembered mostly [for Napoleon] and that\u2019s not such a bad thing because I love that movie,\u201d he smiles. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to be connected to a character or project, it\u2019s a pretty good one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post ‘It was hard to hit me in the face with the steak’ \u2013 Jon Heder on 20 years of Napoleon Dynamite<\/a> appeared first on Little White Lies<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two decades on from an unlikely cultural phenomenon, the star of Jarred Hess’s lo-fi cult classic talks Moon Boots, Jamiroquai and doing his own stunts.<\/p>\n

The post \u2018It was hard to hit me in the face with the steak\u2019 \u2013 Jon Heder on 20 years of Napoleon Dynamite<\/a> appeared first on Little White Lies<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":526,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[6166],"tags":[61,122,127,129,124,128,125,132,131,133,126,130,123,66,94,88,97,56,64,65,60,112,6188,6181,40,75,95,6191,6189,104,6196,6206,6183,6186,33,120,6185,105,101,6199,6190,6193,6202,6195,6204,98,115,30,29,41,86,70,69,68,72,71,26,118,108,87,46,55,48,52,54,51,50,83,6197,62,58,57,6177,109,6201,35,59,63,85,79,82,96,80,27,81,114,44,42,43,45,38,39,6205,6198,6187,6200,6192,6194,6203,110,117,6184,100,111,116,73,89,90,92,91,6180,93,84,78,37,6182,102,34,36,77,67,74,99,113,119,28,121,6179,6178,32,47,49,53,103,31,76],"class_list":["post-131880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie","tag-airpods","tag-anime","tag-anime-characters","tag-anime-cosplay","tag-anime-edits","tag-anime-merchandise","tag-anime-movies","tag-anime-news","tag-anime-recommendations","tag-anime-reviews","tag-anime-series","tag-anime-streaming","tag-animes","tag-app-store","tag-app-store-samsung","tag-appgallery","tag-appgallery-oneplus","tag-apple","tag-apple-music","tag-apple-tv","tag-apple-watch","tag-bbc-sport","tag-behind-the-scenes-footage","tag-best-comedy-movies","tag-best-mobile-games","tag-bixby","tag-bixby-xiaomi","tag-box-office-hits","tag-celebrity-interviews","tag-champions-league","tag-cinema-history-and-evolution","tag-cinematic-virtual-reality-experiences","tag-classic-romance-movies","tag-critically-acclaimed-dramas","tag-cyberpunk","tag-cyberpunk-2077","tag-family-friendly-movies","tag-fantasy-football","tag-fifa","tag-film-director-profiles","tag-film-festival-highlights","tag-film-industry-news","tag-film-production-techniques","tag-film-soundtracks-and-scores","tag-film-inspired-travel-destinations","tag-football","tag-formula-1","tag-fortnite","tag-free-fire","tag-free-mobile-games","tag-freebuds-pro","tag-galaxy-a52","tag-galaxy-note-20","tag-galaxy-s21","tag-galaxy-watch-4","tag-galaxy-z-fold-3","tag-game","tag-games","tag-golf","tag-harmonyos","tag-how-to-backup-iphone","tag-how-to-factory-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-reset-iphone","tag-how-to-restore-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-5","tag-how-to-unlock-iphone-6","tag-huawei","tag-in-depth-film-analysis","tag-ios","tag-ipad","tag-iphone","tag-latest-movie-releases","tag-live-soccer","tag-local-cinema-listings-and-showtimes","tag-lol","tag-macbook","tag-macos","tag-mate-40-pro","tag-mi-11-lite","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p","tag-mi-home-security-camera-basic-1080p-huawei","tag-mi-smart-band-6","tag-minecraft","tag-miui","tag-mlb-scores","tag-mobile-game-design","tag-mobile-game-development","tag-mobile-game-marketing","tag-mobile-game-monetization","tag-mobile-games","tag-mobile-gaming","tag-movie-adaptations-of-books","tag-movie-merchandise-and-collectibles","tag-movie-reviews-and-ratings","tag-movie-ticket-discounts-and-offers","tag-movie-trailers-and-teasers","tag-movie-trivia-and-facts","tag-movie-themed-quizzes-and-games","tag-nba-scores","tag-nba-standings","tag-newest-horror-films","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-scores","tag-nhl-scores","tag-one-ui","tag-oneplus","tag-oneplus-9-pro","tag-oneplus-buds-pro","tag-oneplus-nord-ce-5g","tag-oscar-nominated-films","tag-oxygenos","tag-p40-pro-plus","tag-poco-x3-pro","tag-pokemon","tag-popular-action-films","tag-premier-league","tag-pubg","tag-pubg-mobile","tag-redmi-note-10-pro","tag-samsung","tag-samsung-pay","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-steam","tag-steeam","tag-top-10-anime","tag-top-rated-movies-2023","tag-upcoming-hollywood-movies","tag-valorant","tag-when-do-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-does-the-iphone-7-come-out","tag-when-is-the-iphone-7-coming-out","tag-world-cup","tag-xbox-series-x","tag-xiaomi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/526"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gamefootballmobileanimeiphone.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131880\/revisio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