Napoleon Nerd Makes Good
The first thing we noticed about Jon Heder — star of the current indie comedy Napoleon Dynamite — is that he looks nothing like the title character. Heder's improbably named high-school outcast (with a heart of something resembling gold) sports thick glasses, droopy eyes and a hairstyle that would worry even Ted Koppel. In real life, the 26-year-old actor-animator looks like a normal guy. Get him talking, though, and you'll see where his wacky character comes from...
Like Napoleon, Heder sprinkles his sentences with exclamations like "Sweet!" and "Gosh!" "Growing up, I totally said a lot of the things he does," Heder admits. "And I have memories of very Napoleon-esque moments. I was freakin' 15 years old when I did a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stop-motion animation on my video camera. I was like 'Dude, I'm supposed to be hooking up with chicks! This isn't going to help me score!'"
Heder spent his own geeky teen years in Salem, Or
Mon, Jun 14, 2004
