49 Fun Facts About Napoleon Dynamite

In which state is Napoleon Dynamite set and filmed?

The film is set and shot in Preston, Idaho, the director's hometown near the Utah border; locals fed and housed the crew during the 2003 shoot.

Who directed Napoleon Dynamite?

Jared Hess directed it as his first feature, co-writing the script with his wife Jerusha Hess; the couple later made Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos.

What was the film's budget?

The film was made for about $400,000, raised largely by producer Jeremy Coon, and shot in the director's hometown over a few weeks in 2003.

Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?

Napoleon Dynamite grossed about $46 million worldwide, most of it in North America, after opening in only a handful of cinemas in June 2004.

What was the title of the short film the movie grew out of?

Peluca, a nine-minute black-and-white student short starring Heder as a nerd named Seth, screened at the Slamdance festival in 2003.

Heder and the director met as film students where?

Heder and the film's director met as film students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where the director made the student short that grew into the feature.

How much was Jon Heder originally paid for playing Napoleon?

Jon Heder was paid $1,000 for the shoot; after the film's success he renegotiated and received a share of the profits.

Which studio picked the film up at its January 2004 festival premiere?

Fox Searchlight bought the film after its January 2004 festival premiere, with Paramount and MTV Films taking the international release; it opened in North American cinemas that June.

What is the name of Napoleon's older brother?

Kipland Ronald Dynamite chats online with babes all day and dreams of fighting professionally.

Kip's internet girlfriend LaFawnduh travels from which city?

LaFawnduh comes from Detroit, Michigan; she gives her boyfriend an urban makeover and Napoleon a mixtape, and the two of them leave town together on a bus.

Pedro is a transfer student from which city?

Pedro Sánchez has just transferred from Juárez, Mexico; he runs for class president and, complaining that his head got too hot, shaves it himself.

How does Grandma Carlinda injure herself?

Her broken tailbone is what brings Uncle Rico and his camper van to town.

What does Uncle Rico drive?

Uncle Rico drives and sleeps in an orange 1975 Dodge Tradesman van, which he parks outside the Dynamite house while he looks after the boys.

Which song does Napoleon dance to at the school assembly?

Napoleon dances to Jamiroquai's 1999 single 'Canned Heat' at the election assembly, a routine Heder performed in only a handful of takes.

Summer Wheatly performs her election skit to which song?

The skit is a dance routine to the Backstreet Boys' 1999 hit 'Larger than Life', performed with her friends; Napoleon's solo for Pedro follows it.

What does Napoleon draw for Trisha to ask her to the dance?

Napoleon draws a portrait of Trisha, boasting about how long the shading on her upper lip took him; the drawing comes with a note asking her to the dance.

Napoleon tastes milk samples for defects at which competition?

Napoleon competes in a Future Farmers of America contest, tasting milk samples and declaring that one 'tastes like the cow got into an onion patch'.

What is the name of the instructional videotape Napoleon buys?

Napoleon buys a thrift-store tape called D-Qwon's Dance Grooves and practises its moves in his bedroom, grumbling that it is 'pretty much the worst video ever made'.

Which musician had used the name 'Napoleon Dynamite' as a pseudonym years before the film?

Elvis Costello used 'Napoleon Dynamite' as a pseudonym on his 1986 album Blood & Chocolate; the director says he took the name from an elderly man he met in Cicero, Illinois.

Which comedy veteran shot all his scenes as martial arts instructor Rex in a single day?

Diedrich Bader, best known from The Drew Carey Show and Office Space, played Rex, whose Rex Kwon Do classes come with the order 'Bow to your sensei'.

Whose idea was the film's opening titles written on plates of food and a tube of ChapStick?

Aaron Ruell, the photographer who plays Napoleon's brother, devised the title sequence, with the credits written on plates of food and other objects including a tube of ChapStick.

How many MTV Movie Awards did the film win in 2005?

It won three: Best Movie, Breakthrough Male Performance for Heder and Best Musical Performance for his dance, at a ceremony run by the network whose film arm co-released it.

Where did Napoleon Dynamite land on Bravo's list of the 100 funniest films?

Entertainment Weekly separately ranked Napoleon #88 among the 100 greatest characters of the previous 20 years.

The big assembly routine was written because the filmmakers knew what about Jon Heder?

The filmmakers knew Heder liked to dance and wrote the assembly routine to make use of it; the dance itself was improvised rather than choreographed.

What does Napoleon ride to arrive late at Kip's wedding?

Napoleon turns up late on a wild stallion he has tamed as a wedding present, and the newlyweds ride off on it in the post-credits scene.

Who plays Deb, the shy girl who sells glamour shots and knick-knacks for college?

Tina Majorino, a former child actress from Waterworld and Corrina, Corrina, plays Deb; the role restarted her career and led to Veronica Mars and Big Love.

Who plays Uncle Rico?

Jon Gries plays Uncle Rico; he had been Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius (1985) and went on to play Ben's father Roger Linus on Lost.

Napoleon describes which animal as 'pretty much my favorite animal ... bred for its skills in magic'?

A liger, which Napoleon explains is 'pretty much a lion and a tiger mixed', is the creature he draws and shows Pedro, claiming it is bred for its skills in magic.

Which bully demands 'Give me some of your tots'?

Napoleon had stashed the tater tots in his cargo pocket; Randy kicks them.

Which three talents does Napoleon insist girls want in a boyfriend?

Napoleon lists nunchuck skills, bow-hunting skills and computer-hacking skills, insisting that 'girls only want boyfriends who have great skills', when Pedro asks whether he will ask anyone to the dance.

What does Uncle Rico bet he can throw over 'them mountains'?

Uncle Rico asks 'How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?', convinced that had Coach put him in during the fourth quarter in '82 they'd have been state champions.

What is Kip training to become?

He says 'we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter', though he spends most of his day chatting online with babes.

Tina, whom Napoleon calls a 'fat lard' at dinnertime, is what kind of animal?

She refuses the casserole he flings at her.

What does Napoleon claim to have caught Deb?

Napoleon turns up at Deb's front door and hands her a fish with the line 'I caught you a delicious bass'.

What does Napoleon ask about the chickens at the farm job?

The farmer, Lyle, pays the boys in quarters and raw egg drinks.

Kip's retort to Napoleon at the dinner table is what?

He fires back 'Your mom goes to college!' at the dinner table, a comeback that makes no sense because the brothers share a mother, and it became one of the film's most quoted lines.

What does Deb try to sell door-to-door alongside glamour shots?

Deb sells boondoggle keychains, 'a must-have for this season's fashion', and glamour shots door-to-door to raise money for college.

The animated Napoleon Dynamite series aired on which network in 2012?

The animated series ran on Fox in early 2012, premiering in January after an NFL playoff game, with the film's original cast returning to voice their characters.

How many episodes did the animated series last?

Mike Scully of The Simpsons helped develop it; Olive Films put the whole run on DVD in 2014.

Which fast-food chain hired Heder and Ramirez for a 2016 tots commercial?

Burger King brought Heder and Ramirez back as Napoleon and Pedro for a 2016 Cheesy Tots commercial, twelve years after the film.

Jon Heder has an identical twin brother named what?

Jon Heder's identical twin is Dan Heder; the brothers were born in Fort Collins, Colorado, and grew up in Salem, Oregon.

In which 2007 comedy did Heder play a figure skater alongside Will Ferrell?

In Blades of Glory (2007) Heder plays Jimmy MacElroy, a figure skater forced to pair with Will Ferrell's Chazz Michael Michaels; he also voiced Chicken Joe in Surf's Up that year.

Which 1980 Bette Midler song do students perform in sign language early in the film?

The Happy Hands Club signs along to 'The Rose', Bette Midler's ballad from the 1979 film of the same name, which was released as a single in 1980.

Where was the film's 20th-anniversary 4K restoration screened in 2024?

The film returned to the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024, where it had premiered in 2004, for a 20th-anniversary screening with cast members on stage.

Who does Trisha ditch Napoleon for at the school dance?

At the dance Trisha slips away to join Summer and her boyfriend Don and their friends, leaving Napoleon alone until Pedro lets him dance with Deb.

How much was the production company awarded in its 2011 royalties lawsuit against the film's distributor?

A jury awarded Napoleon Pictures $150,000 in 2011, far short of the roughly $10 million it had sought from the distributor for underreported home-video royalties.

What footwear does Napoleon wear as a nod to 1980s fashion?

Napoleon wears Moon Boots, the puffy nylon snow boots that were a 1980s fad, part of a deliberately dated look that also gives Deb a side ponytail.

Which actress plays Grandma Carlinda?

Sandy Martin plays Grandma Carlinda; the character actress later became known as Mac's chain-smoking mother on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

For the film's tenth anniversary in 2014, a bronze statue of Napoleon with a tetherball was placed where?

A bronze statue of Napoleon beside a tetherball pole was unveiled on the 20th Century Fox studio lot in Los Angeles in June 2014 for the tenth anniversary.