Jared Hess turned tater tots and milk tasting into national obsessions with Napoleon Dynamite, but he hasn’t managed to do much of anything since. Remember Nacho Libre? Yeah, he’d probably prefer you didn’t. He’s going to give success another shot, though, with Gentlemen Broncos, which according to JoBlo will start filming next spring.
They’re calling it Napoleon Dynamite meets Rushmore: a high school outcast writes a fantasy novel, but at a conference he discovers his idea—a book called Yeast Lords--has been ripped off by Ronald Chevalier, a hugely successful writer. I’m already seeing Bill Murray in this role, which we all know will never happen, but man, wouldn’t he be perfect for that?
A few good signs: Hess is hanging on to Mike White, who co-wrote Nacho Libre, as a producer. Say what you will about Nacho Libre, but White is an Apatow cohort, and wrote the hilarious School of Rock. They’ll also be filming in Utah, the setting for Napoleon and Hess’ home state; it seems it will do him good to be back on familiar territory.
I haven’t seen Napoleon since it came out, so I have no idea if it actually holds up as an example of Hess having talent. Still, as much as I love Judd Apatow and Adam McKay, it’s nice to see someone else taking a stab at mainstream comedy that isn’t total bottom of the barrel nonsense. Plus the title sounds like sometime Owen Wilson’s writer character in The Royal Tenenbaums would have written, and for whatever reason that makes me like it that much more.
