Refreshing interview with John Heder courtesy of Vulture:
It’s been seven years between the movie Napoleon Dynamite and FOX’s new animated series Napoleon Dynamite, and the original movie isn’t even streaming on Netflix Instant. “It’s not?” asked the once and future Napoleon, Jon Heder, before mock-expunging any self-doubt: “Whatever, dude. Everybody owns it already.” We talked to Heder about revisiting the role, how being Mormon has held him back from being a raunchy comedy star, and his feelings about Mitt Romney. …
[VULTURE:] You’ve had success, but you really haven’t been able to match the success of Napoleon Dynamite. Why do you think you didn’t become like another Jonah Hill or something?
HEDER: Because I was picky. And I still am. I enjoy success and I certainly want the projects I did to do well. But I realized how happy I am trying to be somewhat normal without becoming huge. And not so much normal, but grounded, down-to-earth. I grew up in a family where my dad is a family doctor. And I didn’t want to do that, but I wanted a life like he had, which is a somewhat quiet, humble existence. Now, Blades of Glory is unlike anything my dad has done. [Laughs.] But I did get a lot of offers, especially back then, of stuff that I’m not comfortable with. A lot of the projects just seemed too raunchy. Quite honestly, a lot of it was that: the raunch factor. I’ve never been interested in doing those kinds of projects.
Is being a Mormon why you avoid raunchy material?
Absolutely it comes from how I was raised. It’s just kind of who I am. These are the standards I live by and whatever comes my way in the future, whether filmmaking or animation or whatever, I’m going to do my best to live by those standards.
This was a huge year for Mormonism: Jimmer and The Book of Mormon swept the Tonys, and now you have Mitt Romney and Napoleon Dynamite is back. Are you proud of your people?
I’m always proud of my people. But I don’t watch much sports. Sports and politics are the two things that I’m not huge into. I guess I follow politics more than sports. But I’m proud of those guys for upholding the parts of American culture that I’m not into.
Is Mitt Romney your guy? Are you rooting for him?
Yeah, sure I’m rooting for him. Again I’m still taking my time in looking at all the people. Obviously there’s the Mormon connection and yeah, good for him. But looking at all the candidates, there are certain stances that he takes that I don’t agree with. But you can’t be 100 percent with any one person.
Much more here.
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