By Michael Cripe
Special to the Citizen
Hardcore fans gathered for a night of memorable quotes and a cast Q&A at an exclusive “Napoleon Dynamite” fan event.
Held at the Kansas City Kauffman Center, the special event led with a screening of director Jared Hess’ cult-classic.
Though hundreds of thousands have seen the movie more times than they can count, the screening was particularly special. Besides fan reactions exploding at every quotable line of dialogue and dance scene, some of the “Napoleon Dynamite” cast was in attendance, too.
After the credits rolled and the audience was given a short intermission, Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), Efren Ramirez (Pedro Sanchez), and Jon Gries (Uncle Rico) took to the stage to answer an hour’s worth of fan questions.
The three took the stage via dance, setting a friendly atmosphere from the get-go. Every joke was met with thunderous applause and inside jokes were shared between both the cast and audience throughout the night.
One of the movie’s most memorable moments involved the star character forcing a llama to eat its dinner. Heder commented on the scene, saying some of it was based on improvisation.
“I hated that llama,” Heder said.
Heder went on to talk about the realities of the movie behind the scenes, stating that every drawing, dance move and reaction was done by him with little planning. This improvisational stance was taken to ensure the role was as authentic as possible.
When asked on the possibility of a sequel by one of the audience members, Heder had this to say.
“My stance was always, ‘if Jared wants to do it, I’ll do it,’” Heder said.
After the tease of a sequel, the Kansas City crowd immediately begun whispering and clapping.
Before closing out the evening, one fan asked the trio to sing happy birthday to a 14-year-old girl. Without hesitation, the three happily stood and obliged.