Jon Heder's Kids Love Napoleon Dynamite for Very Different Reasons & It's So Napoleon of Them
Napoleon Dynamite turned 20 years old this month (!!!), and it’s still speaking to young audiences. The cult classic film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004, and the ongoing “craze” is quite close to home for Jon Heder. Not just because he played the titular character and always has lines quoted at him (especially that iconic one about tots). But because his children are getting into the movie.
The actor — who shares four kids with wife Kirsten Heder — spoke with E! News about how his two youngest children feel about the film, and it sounds like they have really embraced parts of Napoleon’s personality.
“They’re very aware of the craze,” Heder said. “My daughter actually enjoys it. She’s 7. She’s like, ‘Oh, can we watch clips from the movie?'”
Which sounds a lot like Napoleon himself, who memorably watched the D-Qwon’s Dance Grooves VHS on repeat until he was a sweaty mess and ultimately able to wow during the talent portion of Pedro’s high school president presentation. (Sorry for any [two-decade-old] spoilers.)
Meanwhile, Heder’s 10-year-old son Timothy isn’t necessarily in it for the cinematic brilliance. “I don’t know if he cares that much about the movie. But he loves to tell people who I am,” Heder said.
“[He] loves the reaction it gets, he understands it for the fame aspect,” he said. Which also sounds like Napoleon who wants his peers to think he’s cool. Although being able to say, “My dad is Napoleon Dynamite” is slightly cooler than being able to show off your drawings of a “liger” (“A lion and a tiger mixed … bred for its skills in magic.”)
Now we’re dying to know how Heder’s older kids feel about it all. And do they act like any of the characters? Does his daughter Evan wear her hair in a side ponytail like Deb? Does his middle son Philip “chat online with babes all day?”
Heder and his wife Kirsten are college sweethearts who met at Brigham Young University and got married in 2002 — two years before he shot to fame. They then welcomed their firstborn, Evan, in 2007 — the same year Heder cemented his comedic prowess with his role in another cult classic, Blades of Glory.
These celebrity kids are giving their parents a humbling reality check by having zero interest in their movies.