I will spare you the suspense and just say that it was the treatment for Napoleon Dynamite. I talked to Jon Heder on several occasions about what he thought about a comic book about the 'further adventures' of the characters in the film and he thought it was a great idea, he even saw some drawings early on and indicated he was pleased with what I was doing with it.
So the plan of action I set before me was that even though the rights to ND were eventually sold to Fox Searchlight when the bought it at Sundance, I still had a connection to the star of the film and he could easily get it in his hands and hopefully give it to the right people so that I could get the job, sounds simple right?
I worked very hard on this project for months, never having even seen the film because it hadn't come out yet, all I had to work from was a short film called Peluca, that I used for my reference. I really enjoyed the project and so here is what happened:
I give all my hard work to Jon Heder via Dan and Sarah Heder, his twin brother and sister in law respectively, who is awesome might I add. Sarah I mean, Not that Dan isn't awesome too. I mean the man schooled me when I tried to talk shop (animation) with him once and he went straight for the jugular which is Japanese animation, which is my Achilles heel. I am familiar with the works of the 'Walt Disney of Japanese animation', Hayao Miyazaki...and that's about it.
Anyway I majorly digress. So anyway He got Jared Hess the full 11x14 portfolio, all hand drawn and colored originals. And here is where I kick myself, I finished it in the 12th hour and rushed it over to the Heder residence, not being able to go to Kinkos and make copies like I planned. John was headed to LA that night to seek fame and fortune, of which he received in spades.
Guess what I recieved, not even an acknoledgement from Jared Hess, or a hey this probably isn't going to work, but I can arrange to have you pick it up. I hope he didn't just trash it,
The other funny thing is that I met the guy that played Pedro in the film while having lunch in Sundance, and we got to talking and he said, yeah Jared id not really the type to do that.
Anyway the whole thing was kinda a bummer after all. All I have left are a few rough draft type drawings of the first page, so you can get a sense of the feel of it. I just freehanded the other pages.
Anyway, this story is is not a 'classic anecdote' by the way, I was just thinking back, because I am in the process of getting my portfolio together.
Well, I'll just say if anything it got me excited about doing a proper graphic novel some day.
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2 comments:
Well, I like reading stories that involve me because well, maybe I'm a little vain and like reading about myself from other people's points of view.
However, that is a SAD story. I remember you working on the comic book, but I don't remember you giving it to Jon. Did Jon lose it? Is it still in Jon's possession? It seems like it would have been a big seller. I must follow up on this situation and help you! We must get this comic into the right hands!
I too remember the beginnings to this sad tale, although at the time the tale was not so sad but happy. How cruel is the fickle hand of almost fame. Your talent cannot be hid under a rock. It's bigger than a rock, it's bigger than a mountain...of rock, because you rock. That is not to say that you are the rock that cannot hide your talent but, instead, that you rock, as in, the talented way...like the rock. Not the rock that cannot hide your talent but the rock with some acting and lots of wrestling talent. Which brings me to my point, isn't professional wrestling just acting anyway? So why wouldn't the rock be a good actor, if he was a good wrestler he was a good actor anyway. I rest my case.
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