“Napoleon Dynamite” was a 2004 break out success and filmmaker, Jared Hess, believes it continues to resonate with audiences because it was made with authenticity.
Hess said the creation of “Napoleon Dynamite,” was personal and took inspiration from his own life.
“When my mom saw ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’ she goes, ‘Well, that was a lot of embarrassing family material,’” Hess said. “I mean, most of the dialogue in that movie is just stuff that me and my brother said to each other. I mean, it’s all just transcripts taken from life. I mean to me, it’s like, just take notes of anything interesting.”
Not only was the dialogue and story inspired by Hess’s life, but he used his connections and returned to hometown of Preston, Idaho.
“I was like, ‘You know what, we can go to my hometown. Everyone there’s amazing,” Hess said. “They’re really going to help us out. We should be able to shoot at the DI for free, the high school … we were writing for places that we knew that we would have access to and be able to get the support of the community. And so that’s what we did.”
Actor Jon Heder portrayed the titular character, creating a persona that intrigued Hess, but had yet to grace audience’s screens.
“I’d never seen a character like Napoleon,” Hess said. “I mean, I’ve seen different iterations of teenagers, but not one from rural Idaho that wore moon boots and were interested in drawing ligers. But that was something that was very real and normal to me. So it’s like, wanting to make the movie that you’ve never seen before but would love.”
Hess says he believes some of the best stories develop themes and messages “organically.”
“I’ve never started with a theme,” Hess said. “To me, it’s always characters and story, then usually something else rises to the top just by the nature of writing it, then you can go back and rewrite and support those ideas and make them stronger in your rewrite process.”
To learn and hear more from Hess, listen to the full interview on BYU-Idaho Radio’s podcast on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.