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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 19 June 2019
‘Gosh!’ Cult comedy ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ turns 15

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST Made for just $400,000 by a independent film producer
Associated Press group of recently graduat- and lecturer at the Universi-
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The ed Brigham Young Universi- ty of California, Los Angeles
cult comedy Napoleon Dy- ty film students, it would ulti- School of Theater, Film and
namite turns 15 years old mately gross more than $46 Television. “I like to think
this month, a milestone for million after its June 2004 something else like that
a movie that became an release. A word-of-mouth would find an audience
early breakaway hit in to- hit before Twitter and Face- today, because I do think
day’s era of pop-culture book took off, it was part of people respond to that au-
geek celebration. a handful of independent thentic freshness.”
The movie created the comedies that took off in Shot in just over three
“Vote for Pedro” T-shirt and the early 2000s. weeks, the movie made
made Napoleon’s disgust- “Napoleon Dynamite” tells a splash at the Sundance
ed version of “gosh!” into a the story of its curly-head- Film Festival even though
2004 catchphrase. ed, socially awkward title it was submitted before di-
rector Jared Hess thought
it was ready. But producer
Jeremy Coon said he knew
they had something spe-
This 2004 photo provided by Twentieth Century Fox and
Paramount Pictures shows Jon Gries, as Uncle Rico, from left, cial from the first edit.
Jon Heder, as Napoleon Dynamite, and Aaron Ruell, as Kip, in a “All of us were starving stu-
scene from movie “Napoleon Dynamite.” dents coming out of school.
Associated Press A lot was riding on it,” said
character who ultimately of Jared and Jerusha Hess Coon, who borrowed the
triumphs over the high mined true-to-life oddball money to make the movie
school jocks and cheer- high school moments, from from his brother.
leaders because of his a musical sign language Fox Searchlight snapped it
quirks, rather than in spite club to puffy-sleeved dress- up for nearly $5 million, a
of them. es for school dances. There princely sum at the time.
Its success added to a ris- were also nods to rural life It started off relatively small
ing profile for the world’s in the tiny city of Preston, in theaters, but with clever
unapologetic nerds at the Idaho, like the much-quot- marketing and word of
beginning of a new wave ed line drawn from Napo- mouth, people kept com-
of geek glory. “The Big leon’s mealtime call to the ing back. Nearly three
Bang Theory,” would debut family llama: “Tina, you months after its release,
a few years later and be- fat lard, come get some it was still earning just as
come television’s top-rated dinner.” The combination much money per theater,
sitcom, while comic book struck comedic gold. said Bruce Nash, founder
movies achieved box of- “I think the legacy of the and publisher of The Num-
fice dominance. movie is how original it is,” bers, a movie industry
The husband and wife team said Glenn Williamson, an tracking website. q
Hollywood Vampires rise again on

great 2nd album

covers of classic rock songs
mainly by artists who died
from drug or alcohol use,
was so good that it merited
a second effort once ev-
eryone could find the time.
That time is now, only this
time the Vamps dish up
mostly new material. “Rise”
starts with the insistent “I
Want My Now,” as good a
song as Cooper has record-
ed in years, and “Mr. Spi-
der” is a creepy heir to “The
In this Feb. 15, 2016 file photo, from left to right, Johnny Depp, Black Widow.” Cooper usu-
Joe Perry, and Alice Cooper of The Hollywood Vampires arrive ally can’t resist throwing in
at the 58th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los a tongue-in-cheek novelty
Angeles. track written from the per-
Associated Press spective of some offbeat
By WAYNE PARRY band in 2015 to pay hom- character on society’s mar-
Associated Press age to dead drinking bud- gins, and this time its “Wel-
Hollywood Vampires, “Rise” dies, it might have seemed come to Bushwhackers,”
(earMUSIC) When Alice like a pleasant diversion, a about an angry old man
Cooper, Aerosmith guitar- one-off lark for otherwise at a bar spoiling for a fight;
ist Joe Perry and movie star busy artists. it features a guitar cameo
Johnny Depp formed a But that first album, with its from Jeff Beck.q