Billy Bob Squares Off Against Jon Heder.
School For Scoundrels is the new comedy from director Todd Phillips (Old School) about a school where losers can learn to bring out their inner-lion. Jon Heder, best known for his portrayal of the now-iconic Napoleon Dynamite, plays Roger, who might just be the ultimate loser. Roger sits in his lonely apartment reading self help books, desperately hoping for the confidence to ask his cute Aussie neighbor Amanda (Jacinda Barrett) out on a date. His career as a New York City Meter Maid isn’t doing a lot to increase his confidence either.
When Roger hears about a mysterious teacher named Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton), who can purportedly turn losers into studs, he’s eager to sign right up. After a few weeks under Dr. P’s tutelage, Roger is making some big changes, excelling in class and improving his life in almost every way. The problem is, Dr. P is also competitive and when he thinks Roger is getting too big for his britches, he challenges the unsuspecting former loser to a battle royale for the affection of Amanda.
ReelzChannel.com recently had the chance to sit down for a chat with the entertaining polar opposites, Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder. While Billy Bob is known as one of Hollywood’s bad boys, Heder is quite the opposite, a Mormon who doesn’t curse and doesn’t drink caffeine. As Billy Bob adeptly puts it (adding his trademark sly smirk), “My life experience has been very different than his, there’s no doubt about that part.”
“It’s a real thing just as in the movie,” adds Heder. “They’re polar opposite. It was kind of like that… [We] had a lot of fun. We’d all joke around. He was very cool, very nice. It was really cool – he was very nice to all of the crew – everybody really liked being around him.”
“Jon’s a lot looser than people might think,” says Billy Bob. “He’s a really good kid, I like him. Everybody talks about how he’s a Mormon and stuff like that, but it’s not like you had to just sit there and keep your collar up…and don’t curse and stuff… He wasn’t like that…”
To the amusement of the crew on Scoundrels, Thornton and Heder even staged an encounter between Sling Blade’s Carl and Napoleon Dynamite.
Thornton comments on the playful exchange: “Since Jon’s character in Napoleon Dynamite, that character and Carl are similarly iconic, we thought we ought to do that.”
Unfortunately for us, the bit wasn’t caught on tape.
“We still talk about how it would be great to shoot a little short film,” says Heder with a laugh. Well, we can all hope, maybe one day…
In Scoundrels, Roger has self-help books all over his apartment. The actor himself admits he’s never actually read one. “Except for the Bible,” says Heder. “The Scriptures is maybe the closest thing, but I never owned a self-help book. I’m not that into reading. If I’m gonna read, I’m gonna read some cool sci-fi book or something, not some stupid self-help book. Although I did pick up The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People… I read it for two seconds and I just didn’t get into it. I was like, “I’m highly effective.”
“Yeah, I always thought it was pretty stupid,” adds Thornton. “I never got into that stuff, especially sort of like the New Age ones of the ‘80’s, remember when they first started wanting us to be sensitive?”
When the gloves come off between Dr. P and Roger in Scoundrels, it’s anything goes. “I got to hit Billy Bob with the [tennis] racket in the back of the head,” says a smiling Heder. “It was a fake racket, but still, hitting him nonetheless.
There’s also a pretty great paintball sequence in the movie. Director Todd Phillips tried his best to keep his actors safe, but Heder still wound up with some black and blue mementos. “I had a couple of good welts. But they were battle wounds and I felt like a Klingon.”
Heder has been somewhat typecast as a loser after playing the ultimate loser in Napoleon Dynamite. Although he’s much more confident (and successful) these days, he knows something about guys like Roger.
“I was reminded yesterday when I saw the film for the first time that he really is a pathetic, sad person at the beginning. I forgot about that, so I’m not that sad and pathetic in real life… In high school, I really was like Roger. I mean, if I liked a girl…I wouldn’t know what to say… But [at least] Roger tries. I don’t think I would have tried, but he makes an attempt. Really painful, but [at least] he makes an attempt. I didn’t have the confidence.”
For as cool as Billy Bob is often perceived, the actor admits he hasn’t always been as suave. “I’ve been a loser many times. I’ve got a lot of sympathy for losers.”
“I think the point of this movie is you should be more confident, you should have confidence in yourself, and it will get you further in your life. But don’t be an a**hole about it, and you can’t let it go over into arrogance and power madness and stuff like that. And then for Jon’s character, it’s like yeah, you should be nice and honest and everything, but don’t let it become weakness. So I think both guys have their point, and neither one of them know how to do it properly.”
Just a few years back, Jon Heder was a Hollywood unknown – an aspiring animator with vague acting ambitions. “I played an oompa loompa in [a stage production of] Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… I really enjoyed it, but that was my first step into like performance and stuff.”
Now, after the staggering success of Napoleon Dynamite, Heder’s star is rising and his life has seen some big, big changes. “I’m doing this movie. I’m doing movies with Billy Bob Thornton… It’s huge. It’s changed a ton. I’m living in L.A. now making movies in Hollywood. That’s how it’s changed.”
So how does Jon Heder unleash, as Dr. P puts it, his inner-lion? “When you see something you want, you want to go after it, I guess. I’m more of a cheetah because it’s more graceful.” Napoleon himself couldn’t have said it better.
Speaking of which, a sequel to Napoleon has been discussed almost since the first film took off, but Heder says no definite plans are in motion just yet. “Everybody talks about it; nobody ever shuts up about it. But, yeah, we’ve talked about it, but nothing’s really happening. Honestly, I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it if you had all the same people working on it. But I think it’s just, we’re so busy doing other things, it’s like, haven’t gotten around to it.”
Thornton’s comedy run of late has come of a surprise to him, but he still doesn’t see himself as a comedic actor. “I’m the guy they call when they need an a**hole.”
His character from Bad Santa has also gained an iconic status, the modern anti-christmas movie. In last year’s Bad News Bears, Thornton played a variation on that same character. The same writing team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa were behind both films.
“After this I’m going to do two or three dramas in a row and kind of get back to what I really love as an actor, more than as an entertainer I guess. Eventually, if and when I do another comedy, it will probably be something along the lines of that [Bad Santa, Bad News Bears] character.
School For Scoundrels opens nationwide on September 29th.