20 Things You Somehow Missed In Napoleon Dynamite

20. The Short Before Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite began life as Peluca, a short movie that Jared Hess made while he was still a student at Brigham Young University in 2002. It was filmed entirely in black-and-white and shot on 16mm film. Peluca's budget was less than $500. It was filmed in just two days with all locations being in Hess' hometown of Preston, Idaho. Hess showed the near nine-minute short at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival.

The short's title is the Spanish word for "wig", in reference to the plot point where the characters find a wig for Giel, a character who shaved his hair after catching a fever.

When Peluca was adapted into Napoleon Dynamite almost all of the plot points and locations remained. Crucially, Jon Heder was still the main character, albeit with his character name changing from Seth to the more memorable Napoleon Dynamite. The biggest change the adaption made was combining the characters Pedro and Giel into the one character, Pedro Sanchez (now portrayed by Efren Ramirez).

While Peluca has its charms, there is little doubt that Napoleon Dynamite allowed Hess to fulfill his creative vision for the story.