Jon Heder: Bound For Glory
|
Napoleon Dynamite is about to become a dad, and Jon Heder-the man whose name has become synonymous with ligers and tater tots-is already fielding the predictable questions: "A lot of people are like, 'Are you gonna have a little Napoleon?' I was like, 'I don't know yet-maybe a little Deb, though.'" As it turns out, Heder and his wife, Kirsten, are expecting a girl, and despite the monumental life changes that come with parenthood, our man seems more than up to the challenge. In the meantime, Heder is about to appear in what has the potential to be his funniest role since he strapped on those infamous moonboots. In this month's Blades Of Glory, Heder plays Jimmy McElroy, an effeminate Olympic figure skater forced to compete in the doubles category with his arch-nemesis, Chazz Michael Michaels, played by Will Ferrell. Heder dons a series of ridiculous (and ridiculously tight) outfits and hits the ice-occasionally face-to-crotch-with the former anchorman. As if that weren't enough, McElroy and Michaels are pitted against Stranz and Fairchild, a mixed-doubles couple played by real-life husband and wife Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live). Let the pants-pissing begin. INTERVIEW: J. Bennett Had you done much ice-skating before you did Blades Of Glory? No. I think I went maybe twice in college and then maybe once or twice growing up. The only experience I really had with rinks was roller skating, like once a year in grade school. One of my best friends had his birthday every year at the local roller rink. But ice skating is a little bit harder because it's ice, and it sucks to fall. When I first talked to [producer] Ben Stiller about doing this movie, I was really excited because I love learning new things-especially random physical things that not everybody does. Ice skating is not your everyday athletic hobby. And we had to look good on the ice because the movie isn't about two guys trying to ice skate. They're supposed to be pros. Normally, sports comedies are about guys trying to do something and they're not very good at it-they're dumb, or whatever. But these guys are supposed to be the best. At the beginning of the movie, there's a fight scene between you and Will Ferrell that looks kinda brutal. How much of that was done with stunt doubles? We used stunt doubles for the part where he trips me and I fall at the top of the podium. But when he headbutts me, that's us. There's another fight scene in the movie that we were wired for, so we tried to do as much as we could ourselves. And for some of the really fast spins and jumps in the skating scenes, we used doubles. But I worked hard, and I really took to it. I love skating-it's kind of become my new favorite hobby. The outfits also look amazing. What did you think when you first saw what you'd be wearing? Oh, we were way excited. We figured if we were gonna wear tights, we might as well go all out and wear the most ridiculous stuff-which isn't really that much of a stretch when you think about it. They wear some pretty amazing stuff in the figure skating world-and by amazing, you know what I mean. People will find it funny, but it's not that far from the truth. It must be hard to keep a straight face when you're working with Will Ferrell. To me, he's like Bill Murray-he's funny when he's just standing still, doing nothing. I'm normally pretty good, but there were a couple of times when I lost it. In the scenes where my character was just observing, it was harder because then you're just watching what the other person is doing. If you're doing something funny, like a fight scene or something, it's easier to stay in character. I remember there were a couple times-like once he was being interviewed and I was standing there watching-I just busted up. I got pretty good at turning the laugh into a disgusted look, though. It seems like your character is in a perpetual state of disgust with Will Ferrell's character. Yeah. We're supposed to be polar opposites. My character is a rich daddy's boy who's been kind of pampered his whole life, and on the ice, it's all about rigidity and technicality-being graceful but precise. Will's character is nothing but drugs and sex on ice. He's raunchy, he kind of improvises, and my character hates everything about his character. I feel like he's disgusting and doesn't take it seriously. I think he's a disgrace to the sport, like he's dirtying my playing field or something. Because of your religious beliefs, you're pretty careful about what you will and won't do onscreen. When you saw the initial script, was there anything you were hesitant about or wanted removed because of sexual innuendo or anything like that? Actually, yeah, there was some stuff. Every comedy usually has something. The script went through a lot of changes anyway, but yeah, there were a few things where I was like, "Okay, I wanna tone down some of the sexual innuendo here," or something like that. There were a few things I had to put my foot down on, but luckily, everybody was very cool about it. It seems like there's a lot of unavoidable sexual innuendo involved when you're making a movie about two men on a doubles figure skating team. Of course, there was some stuff that I... Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that it slipped through the cracks, but yeah, it's unavoidable. That's half the comedy, and that's fine. And of course my character is very femme-y and stuff. But it's made clear that both these guys are completely hetero, which makes it even funnier when they're literally shoved into these positions. Plus, they're both very egotistical guys who are used to being by themselves on the ice and now they're forced to skate with someone else. And not only that, they have to skate with another man. On top of that, they hate each other. So it's really the worst situation. Napoleon Dynamite was obviously huge for you, but has it been a curse to any extent? I don't know. I guess I'll see in the long run if it's a curse. Whenever a film trailer says, "Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder," I can't tell if that's good or bad. Is it good that they still remember that, or is it bad because that's all I'm known for? Do I need to be doing more stuff? But at least people know that movie, so it's hard to say. It's got me to where I am so far, so I guess it's still more of a blessing than a curse. Which Napoleon line do people ask you to repeat the most? It's usually, "Tina, come eat some ham." That seems to be people's favorite line. I mean, there's the typical "Gosh!" or "Freakin' idiot!" but that Tina line seems to be the first one that comes to people's minds. Shooting that movie, I would've never thought the scene where I'm feeding a llama would've been quotable. There was a rumor going around a couple of years ago that you died in a car crash. Have you heard any other good ones about yourself lately? That was pretty weird. It was like, "Well, at least I know that rumor's not true." I haven't really heard any other ones about myself. That one was kinda funny, but then it got annoying when I had family members calling me up and going, "Alright-just making sure." ALT BIOGRAPHY JON HEDER AGE: 29 HQ: Los Angeles, CA RÉSUMÉ: Napoleon freakin' i?Dynamite, as the titular man-child in moonboots; The Benchwarmers, as Clark, the safety-helmeted mama's boy and one-third of a dimwitted trio of adult Little Leaguers; Todd Phillips' 2006 remake of School For Scoundrels, as Roger, Billy Bob Thornton's student and rival; this month's Blades Of Glory as Jimmy McElroy, an Olympic figure skater forced to team up with his sworn enemy, Will Ferrell's Chazz Michael Michaels; the forthcoming Mama's Boy, as Jeffery Mannus, a 29-year old who still lives at home with his mom. JESUS IS JUST ALRIGHT: "I'm not really a concert-going guy," Heder admits. "I think it was because of the way I was raised, my religious background. My older brother went to see Guns N' Roses, but my family didn't really go to very many concerts. The first one I went to was at the Oregon State Fair in 1993 or '94-I saw the Steve Miller Band and the Doobie Brothers." DANCE OFF: After busting his unforgettable Dynamite dance moves to Jamiroquai's "Canned Heat," Heder went to see the English funk squad play a little over a year go. "I got to meet [Jamiroquai vocalist and mastermind] Jay Kay, who was like your classic British dude," Heder says. "He knew who I was and he was like, 'Awright, cool, man. You're crazy, man.' It was pretty brief. I was like, 'Okay, well, call me if you ever want me to be in a video. I will definitely dance!' But I think he's the type of guy who likes to do his own dancing." ALT |
