The stars of Napoleon Dynamite said they never expected the low-budget film to be such a flippin' sweet success.
Audience members -many sporting Vote for Pedro T-shirts -showed up to see the stars of the hit comedy last night at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Aaron Ruell (Kip) and Efren Ramirez (Pedro), both with longer hair than their characters, talked about the making of the film and answered audience questions -including will you marry me?
Ruell, 27, and Ramirez, 21, are touring various colleges in the United States with Jon Gries (Uncle Rico), who could not make it to OU because he is filming in Florida, publicist John O'Marra said.
When we made the film
we didn't even think people would see it Ruell said.
Director Jared Hess wrote the roles of Napoleon Dynamite for college friends Ruell and Jon Heder (Napoleon). In spite of the boring location with Tina the llama in Preston, Idaho, they all enjoyed hanging out with each other.
It was really like summer camp for us Ruell said.
Ramirez, who turned down a role in The Alamo to be in the film, quickly warmed to the rest of the group, he said.
The role of Kip was based on imitations Ruell did of his younger brother, Alex, who also wrote the melody for the wedding song during the alternate ending. Ruell does not think Alex picked up on the fact that the character was about him, he said.
I think there's a little bit of Kip in everybody
Ruell said.
The actors said they never broke character during the shooting, which is why the movie is so funny.
It was really funny. It was neat hearing Kip talk because he sounded just like what he sounds like in the movie
said OU freshman Michael Seymour.
Ruell said Ramirez is more high-energy and talkative than Pedro in real life.
High school teachers and parents often send letters thanking them for the PG humor in the film. Hopefully more films will follow the example of Napoleon and not use topless girls and dirty humor to be funny, Ruell said.
One woman asked Ramirez how he would make all their wildest dreams come true. His reply: Put requests in a box on the edge of the stage and he would do his best.
The duo said many women throw themselves at them, but they declined to illustrate specific stories.
Ramirez just finished shooting the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Ruell, whose first passion is writing and directing, recently had two short films appear at the Sundance Film Festival and is working on his first feature film.
The Hollywood thing just has never appealed to me
he said.
While there are no plans for a sequel, Ruell and Ramirez are shooting an untitled film together in Spain this summer.
At first, both said they were typecasted. Almost all of Ruell's offers were to play computer geniuses, he said.
The original show at Ohio University was canceled after Ramirez missed his flight. He had just returned from a jog in Los Angeles when he found out that he had the wrong flight time, he said.
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