On Friday night, Boone got a taste of Preston, Idaho as “Napoleon Dynamite” came to life at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. A screening of the film was followed by a Q&A session, featuring three lead actors of the film.
“Napoleon Dynamite LIVE” came to the App Theater as part of a nationwide tour that began in late 2024, which coincided with the film’s 20th anniversary.
“We do these shows to show you guys how much we love this movie,” lead actor Jon Heder said at the beginning of the Q&A. “We are the original fans.”
Heder plays the titular character Napoleon Dynamite, an awkward teenager living in Preston, Idaho. Heder was joined by co-stars Efren Ramirez, who plays Napoleon’s friend Pedro, and Jon Gries, who plays Uncle Rico.
The film screening, widely considered to be an indie cult classic, got a warm reception from the almost sold-out theater. While there were some new viewers present, the majority of the audience was made up of long-time fans of the film.
After the screening, the lead actors spoke about their experiences prior to and during the filming of the project. To begin this section, the actors asked the audience for a crystal to start a time machine, a nod to a bit Napoleon performs in the film.
One of the audience members offered a crystal he keeps in his pocket, saying he purchased it after meeting a girl on his first day at App State in 1978 and learning she was a fan of crystals. After graduating, he bought the crystal as a symbol of hope while thinking about her. They eventually reunited, and have been together ever since.
Heder then explained how he met writer and director Jared Hess, who offered him the role, while they were in film school at Brigham Young University together.
“He comes to me with this script. I read it and get to the end, and I’m like, ‘Dude, this is me. This is me and my younger brothers,’” Heder said. “We just realized the stars aligned. We had the exact same vision for this character and this world.”
Ramirez and Gries said they signed onto the film after auditioning. Ramirez said that he chose to be in “Napoleon Dynamite” over a big-budget film that was shooting at the same time.
“I asked my dad, and I go, ‘Well, here’s my situation; what do I do?’” Ramirez said. “My father looked at me, and he said, ‘Follow your heart. That’s what I would do.’ And I thought, like, ‘Yeah, that’s what Napoleon says to Pedro.’”
Gries said he temporarily quit acting to try his luck as a screenwriter before getting the role of Uncle Rico. He recalled his first time meeting Hess, who showed him how the character runs.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s the best direction I’ve ever gotten,’” Gries said.
The actors also spoke about how the movie drew on Hess’s life by filming on location in Hess’s hometown. Several characters in the film were residents, including Farmer Lyle and a boy who bullied the director’s younger brothers in school.
“Jared’s younger brothers would come home and tell him stories about this kid named Bracken,” Heder said. “Jared’s like, ‘Do you think he’ll play himself in the movie?’ And they’re like, ‘You give that guy chips and Pepsi, he’ll do anything for you.’ So they paid him in chips and Pepsi, and his costume was whatever he woke up in that morning.”
Heder, Ramirez and Gries answered several audience questions, including questions about where the scenes were shot, the possibility of a future sequel and whether or not comparing someone to Napoleon was considered an insult.
Tubes of Chapstick were handed out to audience members who asked questions, another reference to a bit in the movie. In between questions, the actors performed scene recreations with audience members.
While responding to one of the questions, Heder told the story behind one of the most famous scenes from the film, a dance sequence to “Canned Heat” by Jamiroquai. The dance was performed by Napoleon in an effort to help his friend Pedro win class president. Because of the film’s tight budget, Heder had to freestyle the dance.
“Jared was like, ‘I know how you like to boogie, and we’re going to make this the climax of the film. Everything rides on this, so it better look good,’” Heder said.
At the end of the event, the actors had a lookalike contest for audience members who came dressed as the characters. The winners were two audience members who dressed as the dynamic duo, Napoleon and Pedro.
