Napoleon Dynamite' writer/director dishes on newest comedy flick
November 11Jared Hess, co-writer and director of oddball comedies "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004) and "Nacho Libre" (2006), crafts movies of striking originality. His latest film, "Gentlemen Broncos" (2009), is an offbeat story about plagiarism that includes a sci-fi subplot, awkward romances and even more awkward bodily malfunctions. The Daily had a chance to sit down with Hess to hear his thoughts about the film as well as some hilarious behind-the-scene secrets. Question: So your first film, "Napoleon Dynamite," was a completely love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie. But at the "Gentlemen Broncos" screening last night, the audience was in stitches for a good portion of the evening. What do you think made this film so accessible compared to "Napoleon?" Jared Hess: I think a lot of it had to do with the main character. With Napoleon, a lot of people could not relate to him on any level and just thought that he was this obnoxious teenager. But with this film, I think the main character is maybe the most normal character ... and he's surrounded by a lot of really strange personalities and people. I think people could identify with him more and therefore it allowed them to laugh at things a little bit more. Q: Was that accessibility something you considered during your filming, or did it just work out that way? JH: Yeah, you know, we don't really think of it like who we're going to be alienating. When my wife and I are writing, we try to create something that she and I have always wanted to see before on-screen, and you kind of cross your fingers and hope that there are people out there like you. And "Napoleon" shows that there were, which is great. So "Broncos" was the next installment. Q: The film had a lot of gross-out body humor, but I think that the one scene that made the entire audience recoil was when the snake defecated all over Dusty's (Mike White) shoulder — what was that and how did you do that?
