I was just thinking about Napoleon Dynamite the other day, what a refreshing, fun movie that was (and still is), so I dug around to find this interview on Screenwriters Utopia.com with writer-director Jared Hess. A few highlights:
DRE: What was the process for writing the script?
JH: We wrote it with both, Jerusha and I, at the computer. We would sit down and brainstorm but we were film students so we didn’t have a lot time. I would also jot down stuff on pieces of paper and she would organize them.
DRE: How did you and Jerusha work on the script together?
JH: It was very difficult. We are both very different creatively. We would have our moments and she would say to me, “Jared, you think all my ideas suck, don’t you?” Then I would be sleeping on the couch that night. But ultimately with a writing partner you tend to settle less for mediocre ideas, which raises the bar on content.
For more, click on the link above.
I was so completely blown away by Napoleon when it hit the screen. I’d felt that I had finally found a movie that perfectly reflected my sensabilities. Yes, that movie is almost EXACTLY how I see the world… sad, I know, but true.
Basically Napoleon and his brother Kip exemplified EVERYONE I grew up with in my small Wisconsin town of Two Rivers… (look it up and you’ll understand why)
A strange epiphany occured to me as well as the film played out. It was the movie I had been trying to write all my life but had never quite achieved. So it was both exhilarating to see MY vision on the screen, a vision that had always been eluding me, as well as disheartening that someone had beaten me to it.
Also, it was a PG rated movie that was sidesplittingly hilarious. Its guffaws are borne of character, not easy gross out. How often does that occur these days???
I do hope Hess can continue his work. I know Nacho Libre didn’t do the kind of numbers the studio wanted but I thought that film had its own special form of brilliance as well.
Oh and by the way… you gonna’ eat your ‘tots?
I just IMDB’d Mr. Hess and I see something called “Gentlemen Broncos” on the way this year, from a script by he and his spouse.
Here’s the storyline: A teenager attends a fantasy writers’ convention where he discovers his idea has been stolen by an established novelist.
Heh heh…. that logline makes me grin from ear to ear.
By the way, I’m astounded that he can write a screenplay with his wife! My signifigant other and I can barely cook a meal together without it becoming personal….