In a recent interview with E! News, Jon Heder, the 46-year-old actor who played the role of a teenaged Napoleon Dynamite back in 2004, speculated this week on what the character might be doing today.
Heder was bluntly frank in his assessment, telling E!’s Shania Russell: “I don’t think it’s looking pretty for Napoleon. I think Napoleon’s life is more drama than comedy. I think he is battling some health issues and has thinning hair.”
Even more , Heder says he doesn’t believe that Napoleon was successful in reconciling with his love interest, Deb (played by Tina Majorino). Hinting at a sequel, he was quoted as saying “But he’s still trying to win her back. So maybe there’s an adventure there.”
Heder also reported that his four children are also beginning to enjoy watching their father in the film. He told the interviewer that his 10-year-old son “understands it for the fame aspect,” adding “I don’t know if he cares that much about the movie. But he loves to tell people who I am.”
In the 2004 film, which has since become a cult classic, Napoleon Dynamite is seen trying to win his high-school class presidency while dealing with his family’s eccentricities. Set in small-town Idaho, the movie depicts Napoleon in one scene as eating tater tots in class, prompting a retort from his friend Randy (Bracken Johnson) that Heder still hears in real life: “Napoleon, give me some of your tots.”
Marking the film’s twentieth anniversary. Heder recently was featured in a commercial for Ore-Ida, referencing his obsession with the potato snack product. “It just seemed kind of obvious,” Heder told the E! interviewer. “If Napoleon is ever going to sell anything it’s either tots or Chapstick.”
Napoleon Dynamite was directed and co-written by Jared Hess. Other cast members (besides Heder, Johnson, and Majorino) included Shondrella Avery, Diedrich Bader, Haylie Duff, Jon Gries, Emily Kennard, Sandy Martin, and Aaron Ruell.
Napoleon Dynamite earned some $46.1 million at the box office worldwide, against a budget estimated at $400,000. It is currently being streamed on Hulu.
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