Sweet! Preston now reigns as geek-chic capital
"There's a little bit of Napoleon in all of us," says lifelong resident Thedora Petterborg. "Who hasn't felt like that once in a while?"
It's been several months since Napoleon Dynamite became America's favorite nerd. The movie, written and directed by freshman filmmaker Jared Hess and based in Preston, was a surprise success, grossing $44.5 million in the United States and gaining near cult status with December's release on DVD.
And now the tiny city of Preston has a following all its own. People from as far away as Germany have come to town, buying up thousands of dollars' worth of souvenir shirts, tetherballs and the ever-popular boondoggle key chain.
"I think it's totally remarkable," said Petterborg, who played the part of school secretary in the movie. "The llama, Tina, lives right across the street from us. People come by and take pictures — they go out of their way to see Napoleon's town."
The movie's protagonist, Napoleon Dynamite (played by John Heder), is a nerdy teenager suffering the typical struggles of high school — trying to find a date, dealing with annoying relatives and holding it all together despite mocking from the popular crowd. He joins forces with friends Pedro Sanchez (Efren Ramirez) and Deb (Tina Majorino) in a bid to elect Pedro to the coveted student body presidency. It all culminates in a dance-off, Napoleon-style.
Not everyone in town was thrilled to be living in the new capital of geek chic. Some residents worry the movie made them look nerdy.
"There's probably two kinds of people. You either love it and think it's the greatest thing that happened, or you hate it and think it makes fun of us," Petterborg said. "Those of us love it because we love Jared."
Much of the movie is based on incidents from Hess' life in Preston, where he was often seen trolling the neighborhood with a camcorder and making amateur movies. No wonder, then, that most residents thought Napoleon Dynamite was simply another of Jared's projects.
"Most of us didn't think anything of it at first, just another no-name movie for Jared Hess," said Stephen Baldwin, store manager for the Deseret Industries thrift shop, where much of the movie's wardrobes were bought and some scenes were filmed. "But then it came out. And now college students are coming into the store to take pictures or videos, looking to purchase memorabilia."
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