After the cynical dark comedy of the ‘70s (M*A*S*H, Harold and Maude, A New Leaf), the flashy broad humor of the ‘80s (The Naked Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, The Breakfast Club), and the nihilistic ‘90s comedy of Generation X (The Big Lebowski, Reality Bites, Office Space), the 2000s paved the way for alternative comedy to shine. Quirky gems like Anchorman and The Royal Tenenbaums were captivating audiences everywhere.
The quintessential cinematic offering of this era was Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess’ indie darling about an angsty Idaho teen who loves ligers and hates everyone around him except for his friend Pedro and his love interest Deb. Due to the low budget and off-the-radar production, there are some fascinating stories from the making of Napoleon Dynamite.
10 The Movie Was A Feature-Length Adaptation Of An Earlier Short Film
Jared Hess made Napoleon Dynamite as a feature-length adaptation of an earlier short film he made with Jon Heder in 2002. Most of the story material from the short made it into the feature adaptation.
In the feature film, there’s a scene in which Napoleon and Pedro go to the state fair, where they judge cows and taste milk. In the short, there was a line of dialogue about milk-tasting.
9 Jon Heder Drew All Of Napoleon’s Drawings Except The Unicorn
Jon Heder is an animation school dropout, so he’s a pretty gifted illustrator in real life. This means that he’s also able to draw badly on purpose. He drew all of Napoleon’s hideous sketches that appear in the movie (except for the one of the unicorn).
This was one of many extra miles that Heder went to with this character. He also got a perm in order to pull off the iconic Napoleon Dynamite look.
8 Nearly Half Of Napoleon Dynamite’s $400,000 Budget Was Spent On The Post-Credits Scene
The production budget of Napoleon Dynamite was just $400,000, and the movie went on to gross more than 100 times that figure with a total box office haul of $46.1 million. Almost half of the budget was spent on the post-credits scene depicting Kip and LaFawnduh’s wedding.
Fox Searchlight added this post-credits scene after the film’s unprecedented success on the festival circuit and during its limited theatrical release.
7 The Extras Were All Actual High School Students
In true Hollywood fashion, the actors who played the major named characters in Napoleon Dynamite were mostly in their twenties or even thirties (with the exceptions of Haylie Duff and Tina Majorino, who were both teenagers), but the extras playing high school students were all actual high school students.
This movie has one of the longest credited cast lists of all time, because the filmmakers gave a credit to every single one of the 181 student extras in the end credits.
6 Jon Gries Was About To Quit Acting When Napoleon Dynamite Came Along
Jon Gries had decided to quit acting and focus on writing when a casting director who knew about him was scrambling to replace an actor who had dropped out of The Big Empty. Coincidentally, Jared Hess was casting Napoleon Dynamite in the same office where The Big Empty was being edited and got a look at Gries’ performance.
Upon seeing this, Hess felt confident offering the role of Uncle Rico to Gries. Gries’ manager was unsure about the offer because Hess was unknown and it was a small project, but the actor read the script and fell in love with the part.
5 The Film Was Released In Japan As Bus Man
When Napoleon Dynamite was initially released in Japan, it was given the title Bus Man. However, it was later changed back to its original title when there was a controversy that the filmmakers were allegedly trying to cash in on the success of Train Man.
In Japan, Train Man is a popular franchise centered around the supposedly true story of a 23-year-old computer nerd who stepped in when a drunken man on a train was harassing women and later dated one of the women.
4 Napoleon’s Dancing Was Improvised By Jon Heder
One of the most iconic scenes in Napoleon Dynamite is the dance scene. Napoleon’s dancing was completely improvised by Jon Heder. He danced along to three different songs, resulting in 10 minutes of footage, and the filmmakers cut it down to the funniest dance moves.
This was the last scene to be shot and the producers were running low on film. They actually didn’t get all the footage they wanted, but they had to make do because they ran out of film.
3 Jack Black Was Almost Cast As Rex
Jack Black almost landed the role of Rex in Napoleon Dynamite, but as can tend to happen in Hollywood, the casting never materialized. Black later played the title role in Jared Hess’ next film, Nacho Libre.
Among the Napoleon Dynamite fan base, Rex Kwan Do outfits are almost as popular as “Vote for Pedro” t-shirts.
2 Studio Executives Had The Opening Titles Reshot With More Attractive Hands
Napoleon Dynamite has one of the most inventive opening title sequences of all time, with plates of food spelling out the names of the cast and crew. The idea was conceived by Aaron Ruell, the actor who played Kip, and they were designed and shot by Pablo Ferro.
Executives at Fox Searchlight enjoyed the quirky titles, but thought that the actor’s hands were too unattractive and had the sequence reshot with a hand model of their choosing.
1 Jon Heder Earned Just $1,000 For His Performance
Although Napoleon Dynamite went on to gross more than $40 million at the box office, it was shot on an ultra-low budget and Jon Heder was paid just $1,000 for his lead performance.
Heder reprised the role at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards for a parody of Batman Begins and probably got paid more for that awards show than the entire movie.
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