'Napoleon Dynamite' stars stopping in Zanesville

ZANESVILLE — Two stars of the independent film "Napoleon Dynamite" will be in Zanesville Friday. John Heder, who plays the namesake role in the film, and Efrain Ramírez, who plays Pedro, will take part in a question and answer session following a screening of the 2004 film.

The screening starts at 7 p.m. at Secrest Auditorium. Tickets can be purchased at the Secrest box office, or by phone at 740-454-06851, or via the Secrest website. Tickets range from $10 to $25. VIP tickets are available, which includes a meet-and greet-with both stars, for $125. The VIP session begins at 5 p.m.

Ramirez was cultivating his DJing career and doing small television roles when he took the part. "When Napoleon Dynamite hit it changed my life completely," he said. "I had to restart my life and figure out what direction I was going to go."

With the fame came the tag of celebrity DJ, and the questions of he could mix records followed. Ramirez was a pioneer of electro music, a mix of techno and old school hip hop beats.

Classically trained — having studied the work of Tennessee Williams and George Bernard Shaw — he initially feared being typecast following the movie.

Instead, he was gone on to a long and varied career, appearing in comedies, like 2006's "Employee of the Month" opposite Dane Cook and Dax Shepard, and later that year the action thriller "Crank" with Jason Statham. He has since worked on a variety of television and movies, including Pixar's "Lightyear," set to be released next month. He continues to DJ and authored a book, "Direct Your Own Life: How to Be a Star in Any Field You Choose!" in 2008.

Director Jared Hess, who wrote the screenplay for the movie based on his previous short film "Peluca" with his wife, Jerusha, told Ramirez the character he would play was based on a combination of two others from the short film.

"I think it is about this kid who doesn't know how to fit in. The world is completely different from what he has grown up in," Ramirez said of Pedro, a Mexican immigrant in the film. "Once you start with a center like that, then you can start adding layers of identity, his backstory and history.

"I was auditioning for two films, one was "Napoleon Dynamite" and the other was "The Alamo," I got them both. Pedro was uniquely different."

Ramirez recalls meeting co-star John Heder, who played the movie's namesake, during the days leading up to filming. Heder was in character when they met. Hader had on "the moon boots and the jeans and this helicopter T-shirt with this big 'fro, and he was like 'hey, are you Pedro?'" in his Napoleon Dynamite voice, "and I was like oh wow, this is going to be such a unique film."

A big fan of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, Ramirez put some of the "innocence and curiosity" of the two silent-era stars in his portrayal of Pedro. "I thought maybe if I put some of that in Pedro, when you are in a situation when you don't know what to do, and you hope, and you lead with hope and see what happens." Napoleon and Pedro team up and become something greater when they are together, he said.

Playing Pedro near the beginning of his career "put a stamp on everything I do," he said. "Not everyone voted for Pedro, and that's ok," he laughed. "But we go on these tours and you see families and grandparents and college students dressed up as the characters, you see 7-year-olds dressed up as Pedro and Napoleon, it has been almost 20 years and there are die hard fans, wow, I am part of this, I get to experience this moment, with everybody, that's remarkable."

Ramirez and a few friends went to the recent Cruel World music festival in Los Angles, and despite wearing a mask, hat and sunglasses, a girl, probably 18 or so, told him he looked like Pedro. He leaned over and whispered "If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true," one of his iconic lines from the film, much to his young fan's delight.

"It has become such an iconic film, it is such a welcoming thing," he said. "I am still surprised, and I am grateful every moment of my life.

"It is not something you can contain," he said, of his lasting fame as Pedro. "But you can experience it, that is what life is all about, how much you can give of yourself, and connect to as many people as possible before we cross over the other side."

Ramirez and Heder like to explore the towns they visit during the Napoleon Dynamite tour. "If you see some guy with a sweet moustache and a tall guy with sweet hair, that might be Napoleon and Pedro."

ccrook@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: 'Napoleon Dynamite' stars stopping in Zanesville