Heder’s still having a blast
No matter how hard he tries, Jon Heder can’t shake Napoleon Dynamite.
Strangers who see him in public refer to him as Napoleon. Even when he plays a different character – as he does in the new movie comedy “School for Scoundrels” – you watch him and think, “Your banter with Billy Bob Thornton is OK. But this movie would be so much cooler if you’d say ‘Freakin’ idiot!’ and take a Tater Tot out of your pants pocket.”
Some might consider this a curse. Others believe Heder, 28, should be proud of giving quirky, endearing life to perhaps the most beloved geek icon in contemporary America.
“I always had the thought, even back then when we were making the movie, that I don’t know how you top this character,” he says of his “Napoleon Dynamite” experience.
“Napoleon was such an extreme characterization. Can I ever do something completely different that’s just as weird?”
After making his feature film debut in 2004’s “Dynamite,” which quickly became a pop culture phenomenon, Heder moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time.
Since then, the former Salem, Ore., resident has appeared in “Just Like Heaven” alongside Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon, and “The Benchwarmers” with David Spade and Rob Schneider.
In “Scoundrels,” an update of a 1960 British comedy, Heder plays a wimpy guy who enrolls in a confidence-building course taught by a hard-core professor (Thornton). That leads to a series of increasingly mean-spirited showdowns between teacher and student, a storyline that lent itself to some racy humor – and a tough decision for Heder.
As a Mormon, the Brigham Young University grad says there are some things he will not do onscreen, including speaking dialogue that’s unnecessarily obscene. Though he liked the script for “Scoundrels,” he says, the original version “had more of an R-rated feel.”
“I’m not opposed to rated-R films,” he explains, “but a rated-R comedy usually has a lot more dirty jokes and stuff like that. … For me, and for my fan base, I need to keep some sort of standards.”
After Heder and co-writer/director Todd Phillips discussed the issue, the harder edges in the movie, now rated PG-13, were toned down to make him more comfortable.
“I was just ready for them to walk away and say we’re going to find someone elsewhere,” he says. “But I have to feel comfortable sticking to what I believe in and saying, ‘I made these choices, and I’ll do this if they clean it up.’ “
So far, Heder’s principles have not prevented him from getting more movie offers. He recently finished shooting “Blades of Glory,” a Will Ferrell ice-skating comedy, and “Mama’s Boy,” in which he stars opposite Diane Keaton.
In addition to managing his workload, Heder is preparing to be a papa: He and wife Kirsten are expecting their first child this spring.
Asked if it bothers him that some critics think “Napoleon Dynamite” was his one-hit wonder, he says, “I don’t dwell on it that much. It was because of that film that everything else has fallen into place.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Don McLean is 61. Musician Sting is 55. Actress Lorraine Bracco (“The Sopranos”) is 52. Actress-talk show host Kelly Ripa is 36. Singer Tiffany is 35. Actor Efren Ramirez (“Napoleon Dynamite”) is 23.