Jon Heder Interview, School for Scoundrels

Jon Heder is perhaps most widely recognized for his critically acclaimed performance as the title character in the 2004 indie hit "Napoleon Dynamite" directed by Jared Hess. Heder’s portrayal as an alienated teen helping his new friend win the class presidency in their small town high school while also dealing with his bizarre family at home has practically certified Heder with cult icon status. The film has grossed over $40 million domestically since its release as well as becoming a top selling DVD.

Heder has gone on to more high profile comedies including Mark Waters’ "Just Like Heaven" with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo in which he played the spacey psychic Darryl who owns the neighborhood occult bookstore and Dennis Dugan’s "The Benchwarmers" with Rob Schneider and David Spade about three athletically-challenged men who make up for missed opportunities in childhood and form a baseball team of misfits. He also provided a voice for this summer’s animated feature "Monster House."

In 2006, Heder, along his twin brother Dan and older brother Doug, formed a production company, Greasy Entertainment, with a first-look deal at Universal Pictures. The company has begun developing projects that include star vehicles for Heder as well as animation properties.

Heder recently wrapped production on the animated feature "Surf’s Up"; Tim Hamilton’s comedy "Mama’s Boy" in which he plays a slacker whose domestic bliss is threatened when his mother (Diane Keaton) announces plans to marry a self-help guru (Jeff Daniels); and Josh Gordon and Will Speck’s sports comedy "Blades of Glory" opposite Will Ferrell. Heder and Ferrell play rival Olympic ice skaters who were stripped of their gold medals and permanently banned from men’s single competition but find a loophole that allows them to qualify as a pairs team.

At yesterday’s Los Angeles press day to promote his newest film, the comedy remake "School for Scoundrels," Jon Heder sat down with Movies Online to discuss what it was like working with director Todd Phillips and starring opposite Billy Bob Thornton. Congratulations were in order when he also inadvertently let slip that he and his wife Kristen are expecting their first child together, a fact confirmed later by his publicity rep, Nicole Chabot.

Appearing relaxed and enthusiastic, here’s what the 28-year-old star had to tell us:

Q: What was it about this role in this movie that enticed you to sign up?

JH: It was a good script and I liked a lot of the comedy in it and I thought it’d be fun to finally to play a character that’s more kind of the everyman type guy but he’s still pretty pathetic, I guess. I just got reminded of that when I watched it for the first time yesterday. I was like, ‘Oh, wow, he really is still pathetic.’ But he gets better. And I really liked Tod Phillips. I sat down with him before doing the movie just to get to know each other and I liked him a lot and I was like, ‘OK. I can work with him. I think I’ll enjoy working with him.’ And I really do.

Q: And was Billy Bob Thornton attached at that point?

JH: Yeah. He was.

Q: Was that also an incentive?

JH: Yeah, look, this is Billy Bob Thornton. He’s huge and it was great working with him too. So it definitely was an incentive too.

Q: And how was working with Billy Bob Thornton? Was it up to your expectation?

JH: Yeah, it was. He’s very professional and he comes in and he’s very considerate and nice to everybody. You know, we’re very, very different people. But because of that, it’s easy for us to share stories about one another.

Q: And we heard from a couple of people that he likes to play practical jokes on his co-stars? Did he get you there too?

JH: He actually did. In the final scene where I’m passed out and he’s trying to revive me and he goes… Well, you see it in the shot of him taking the sock off the guy’s foot, shoving it in my mouth. I mean you see it right there. It’s for real and I couldn’t see that because I was passed out. My eyes were closed. I knew what had to happen but I didn’t know how the shot looked and I thought they were going to take off the sock and he was going to quickly switch it with a clean sock and Billy wanted to do it and Todd was like, ‘Whatever, dude. You can go ahead and do it, but I’m not going to tell Heder.’ And Billy had me go watch playback and I was like, ‘Whoa! Why did you do that!?’ I’m glad he showed me afterwards [rather] than before.

Q: Do you play tennis?

JH: I play every now and then. I love to play. I don’t get tons of chances to play it but when I do, I really enjoy it. I loved shooting that scene ‘cause in between, whenever we could, Jacinda and I and Sarah Silverman ? She’s really good. So we always play.

Q: Any injuries sustained in the paint ball scene?

JH: I had a couple welts. A couple good welts that were not supposed to happen because we had body armor but I took most of it off because it was really uncomfortable so that was my fault. But the guys could have aimed better because they were supposed to shoot me in my crotch which was pretty protected but instead they would keep missing and shoot me in the chest so I had some pretty good size welts.

Q: What do you think about the whole thing with self help?

JH: It’s very pathetic. (laughter) Like I said when I watch this guy, it was like, ‘I never …’ For those of you who have self help books, I understand that’s fun. That’s cool. I mean I have never read any. I’ve read the scriptures in the Bible and that may be the closest thing. I really like the whole thing with Roger is really like a weak guy and he needs to kind of break out. And through the messages at the end that you’ve got to be true to who you are and be yourself, but he still needs that class. He’s still learned something from that class because it gets him out the door. It gives him a good kick in the pants and without that he probably would have ever been successful in getting the girl.

Q: So people need that? It helps in the end so you would recommend people take classes like that?

JH: Well, I’m glad Roger made the best of that situation. I don’t know if I’d recommend that class. I mean it’s pretty hard core. I would normally say if you’re going to go to that kind of class, I would not. I personally would not suggest to people ‘Lie, lie, and lie some more.’ I would normally not suggest how to get a girl from the bar to your bed and trying to lie by relating to her. It’s cool to be somewhat dangerous but you don’t want to kill yourself or your date. (laughter)

Q: Has your success rate with women improved since becoming a big movie star?

JH: Well, I was married before that happened but I guess my success has gotten better. She loves me more.

Q: You’re famous now.

JH: I think she loves me less because I’m famous. She’s like, ‘You’re tainted. You’re a different man.’

Q: You must get lots of attention. You must get lots of fan mail?

JH: Yeah, I get fan mail. It’s weird.

Q: What’s the weirdest?

JH: When I get creepy fan mail from guys, that’s weird. I mean girls I guess I can understand, but guys telling you that they love you, that’s always weird.

Q: That’s for "Napoleon," I take it?

JH: Yeah, mostly "Napoleon."

Q: What are your thoughts on what Napoleon has become with the [inaudible] T shirts, the action figures, and the wigs? Like if you go into Oz and they have…

JH: Oh yeah, I went into Oz the other day. Normally I’m pretty up to date with what they come out with but there’s always new surprises. I went into Oz the other day and saw like the whole rack, a shelf of everything and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh! They have everything. When are they going to come out with the Napoleon car?’ (laughter) It’s out of control and it needs to slow down.

Q: Would you ever do a sequel?

JH: Yeah, I’d do one. If you’ve got all the right people, most of the same people and Jared Hess wrote and directed it. I mean I loved making the movie and I loved doing it with Jared so if he hopped on, I probably would.

Q: In this movie though you kind of go from, as you said, pathetic kind of still the king of the geek thing but then you’re almost the king of cool by the end. Can you see in your own career where you might want to do more…I guess, less nerdy roles? Do you think about those kinds of things?

JH: Yeah. No, I do. With each role, a lot of stuff I see come to me and I’m always keeping my eye open for interesting roles. If I can bring something different to each of those characters and if each of those characters happens to be kind of a dweeb or a loser or something, I don’t really care. I mean I would like to do some more dramatic roles and I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be me trying to get away from loser. It may be a dramatic role where he plays somewhat of a guy with problems. I don’t know. It’s always going to be different. I just like different stuff. But I really do enjoy playing people who are a little bit socially weird and don’t quite have it there and are struggling to be cool and think they are, but they’re not that cool. That’s always fun.

Q: What’s the attraction to you for those characters?

JH: It’s funny. (laughter) I don’t know. You know you almost have those friends and whenever you see your younger brothers trying to be cool and you’re like ‘they’re not.’ It just kind of brings you down to earth and makes you realize. It humbles you. It makes you realize that you need to be… It’s a good lesson in humility. It’s such an important trait. We need to be patient. We need to be humble. I don’t know. I don’t know what it is.

Q: What would you like people to take from this film? What would you like them to get out of it?

JH: Some good laughs. To know that if you want to get the girl, be comfortable with who you are. You know, have some confidence. Be happy with who you are. And it’s OK for the nice guy to win sometimes.

Q: How did you court your real life wife? I assume that thing involved lobsters.

JH: Lobsters? (Laugher) No, we just hung out. I wasn’t big into dating. I guess it was a date but we would just hang out and get to know each other. Slowly a romance blossomed.

Q: So you were friends first.

JH: Yeah, I always figured it would be that way. I always want to become friends first and then no one night stands or anything like that.

Q: You came from a large family. Do you anticipate starting one of your own soon?

JH: Yeah.

Q: What about that little meter maid golf cart? Was that a chick magnet? (laughter)

JH: What do you think?

Q: Well, I never got to drive one around so…

JH: It was fun. I don’t know if it’s a… It’s probably a magnet. I don’t know if it’s a chick magnet, but it’s very metallic and I’m sure it’s gonna attract something. But, no, I was actually even more so. Seeing Roger in that outfit, that meter maid outfit. I was just like, ‘How did he get the girl?’ (laughter) I mean I’m sorry for meter maids out there but it’s too bad they have to wear those shorts.

Q: When you talked about [being] humble and being cool, the comparison, was there any moment in your life where you thought of yourself ‘you’re so cool’ and nobody ever maybe told you that you are not that cool a guy or look that cool?

JH: Well, I mean if there was ever a moment I thought I was cool, I don’t think anybody ever brought me down and said, ‘No, you’re not that cool.’ The only person who does is my wife. She’ll try to bring me back to reality. But then I don’t believe her (laughter)… If I think I’m cool, it’s usually because I am cool.

Q: Well, are you cooler now because your bio said you moved to L.A. recently?

JH: Living in L.A. does not make you cool. (laughter) Living in New York makes you cool. No, what makes you cool is living in Europe. That makes you cool apparently. You’re too good for America. No. So you’re asking what makes you cool?

Q: What made you move here? Is it more just to stabilize a work base or …?

JH: Just to be kind of where the action is right now.

Q: Can you talk a little about the movie ("Blades of Glory") with Will Farrell?

JH: Well, we just wrapped it two days ago. It was a long, long process. It was a lot of work but it was great. I think it’ll be a pretty good movie. I hope so. Working with Will is just amazing. He’s the nicest guy. Very funny, extremely funny. It was great to work with. It was like a dream come true. And I love figure skating. It’s my new hobby. Seriously, my new hobby. I love it.

Q: When is it going to come out?

JH: I think the end of March.

Q: And how’s your leg or ankle?

JH: It’s better. Thank you for asking. It’s 99 per cent.

Q: So can you continue to figure skate?

JH: Yeah. I broke it before we even started the movie. So I had to wait for it to heal and then shoot all the non-skating stuff and then save all the skating stuff for the end. And by that time, yeah, I ended up skating fine.

Q: Where do you skate?

JH: There’s a lot of places surprisingly. There’s the L.A. Sports… Oh wait, no, they had to build a rink. There’s some in Burbank and Van Nuys. They’re little rinks, but they suffice.

Q: What was your family’s reaction to your fame? Your wife and your immediate large family?

JH: They think it’s cool. It’s kind of the good and the bad. They think it’s cool and they’re proud of me, but you know at the same time they have to deal with people asking them… You know, they still have to deal with the traditional thing when we go to family gatherings. A lot of times, you know, people start asking me… They don’t want it to be about John. That can be hard sometimes. I try not to make it that way. But I mean they’re very cool about it. And that’s one of the reasons why I love them all the more is because when I’m with them they help me get away from that world a little bit and it brings me more back to reality.

Q: What kind of reaction do you get from the public when you’re in the streets?

JH: I don’t go on the streets (laughter) for that reason. No.

Q: Do you get endlessly shouted lines from "Napoleon Dynamite?"

JH: It just depends on where you are. When I was making this movie and walking around in New York, just every now and then, but surprisingly more than I thought so, people walking down [calling], ‘Napoleon.’

Q: Do they shout lines of dialogue? What’s the most popular one?

JH: ‘Frickin’ idiot.’ (laughter) It’s so weird because when we shot it, I wanted those to be the quotable lines. Now I’m like, ‘Shut up!’ (laughter) No, I think it’s great that people really took to it. It was exactly what we wanted.

Q: Do you ever get, ‘Tina, eat your hand?’ That’s one …

JH: Yeah, I do get that line. That’s one of the more popular ones.

Q: That’s my favorite line of all of them.

JH: (laughing) That’s so funny.

Q: What’s your biggest splurge since the success of "Napoleon" and your other movies?

JH: Financially?

Q: Yeah, a car or anything you’ve bought?

JH: Well, we just bought a house. So that’s probably the biggest one. It’s a modest house, but… I needed to get … I wanted to move out of the apartment. That was probably it.

Q: Do you ever get intimidated or star struck working with these bigger names like Billy Bob Thornton and Will Farrell?

JH: Yeah, there’s a little bit of intimidation but they’re so easy to work with that it’s like right away… You know, Billy Bob had that kind of … and you’re a little bit … It’s like shy intimidation because he is friendly, but yeah, there is a bit of an intimidation because you’re like (stage whisper), ‘He’s so cool. He’s got tattoos. What do I do?’

Q: Get a tattoo.

JH: And match him. Will Farrell was really easy to work with and get along with. After that I lost the intimidation. And there’s still … I get a little amount of intimidation there but the guys are pretty cool. It’s always great working with the guys.

Q: And the girls?

JH: Yeah. I get intimidated by the pretty women, but not as much because I’m married so I get along with them. I mean all the women I’ve worked with have been really great so it’s no problem there.

Q: What do you do for fun?

JH: I love watching movies. I love collecting music. I love riding bikes. Now I’m going to ice skate.

Q: Did you enroll in a class?

JH: I’m going to get a coach. The coach who coached me before. I’m going to get her.

Q: That’s great.

JH: I hope I don’t break another ankle but at least I feel better about doing it now that it’s not right before a movie.

Q: How did you break your ankle?

JH: Ice skating. Trying to do a spin and my blade caught the ice and I kept spinning.

Q: What’s the best bit of advice you’ve ever been given on, for want of a better word, picking up women?

JH: I can’t give good advice because I was never good at picking up women.

Q: No, what’s the best bit of advice you’ve been given?

JH: Oh, I’ve been given? You know those movies where the guy is always giving his best friend advice? ‘You gotta do this.’ I never had those moments because you don’t know what you’re talking about. Those guys you can never believe. I don’t think I was ever really given advice. It was just your traditional stuff – ‘Talk to her. You just got to talk to them. Become friends with them first.’

Q: Make them laugh.

JH: Yeah, make them laugh. Don’t say anything stupid. And don’t talk about yourself too much.

Q: What about the new dating scene that’s on here? What do you think about internet dating?

JH: I can’t watch those … Like in this movie? Like the romantic stuff, I can’t watch. It’s so awkward. I can’t watch any kissing. It’s weird. I’m sure it’s great. I’m sure it looks good but I will never know.

Q: Do you cover your eyes or what do you do?

JH: I avert. I don’t know. I cringe. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t. Maybe I’ll still … I get used to things sometimes. Like when I first watched myself on the screen for the first time I had problems but I’m getting more used to it. I saw the movie for the first time last night. During the romantic stuff, I’m like, (loud groan) ‘Ahhhhh.’ It was uh … But I want to see it so next time I see it I will be like (less intense groan) ‘Ahhhh’ and keeping my eyes open. I don’t know.

Q: Thank you so much.

"School for Scoundrels" opens in theaters on September 29th. Jon Heder will be seen next in "Blades of Glory" with Will Ferrell. The film is scheduled to be released in March 2007 and may likely coincide with diaper duty. No word yet on the stork delivery date.