Jon Heder misses FanX’s ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ panel, leaving Efren Ramirez to take the stage by himself

FanX’s “Napoleon Dynamite” panel on Saturday was scheduled to feature two of the film’s stars, Jon Heder (Napoleon) and Efren Ramirez (Pedro). But when Heder didn’t make it to the panel, Ramirez took to the stage by himself, answering questions, telling stories and entertaining the crowd.

The panel started about ten minutes late when the announcement was made that Heder had not yet arrived and Ramirez would start by himself. The panel’s organizers and Ramirez himself said multiple times that Heder was on his way and would be arriving soon.

When the panel ended, Heder’s absence was explained when they announced his flight had been delayed.

Ramirez led the panel full of energy and enthusiasm as fans asked him questions, and he added in his own extra stories and thoughts.

His energy was echoed by the crowd of a few thousand fans. Before the panel had even begun, a few fans took to the stage to recreate Napoleon’s dance to the song “Canned Heat” by Jamiroquai.

Ramirez teased the crowd by asking, “Would you like to see a sequel?”

At this the crowd erupted into cheers and he continued saying “I will tell you this, the world of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ has not closed yet.”

He shared in great detail his experiences and feelings as he filmed Napoleon Dynamite. “Twenty years ago I was in Preston, Idaho, I remember my first day on set, and I went to wardrobe, and this guy shows up, and, he’s got a big fro, big glasses and moon boots. He’s like, ‘Hi, are you Pedro?’ and I’m like going, ‘What kind of movie did I say yes to?’”

Throughout the panel Ramirez quoted his own lines from the movie, including “vote for me or something.” He also frequently imitated Heder’s character Napoleon, even doing the iconic voice.

When asked what his favorite scene in the movie was, Ramirez led with sharing his least favorite scene to film: the scene where he had to shave his head.

He then shared his favorite scene to film. “It was that moment after Napoleon does his dance. Because there was no words and I was just reacting off of the crowd and Napoleon’s dance, which I had never seen.”

Ramirez also told the crowd that all of Napoleon’s drawings in the movie were done by Heder himself.

One member of the audience stepped up to the mic to ask Ramirez about Dale Critchlow, her great-great-uncle who played the role of the farmer Lyle in “Napoleon Dynamite.”

“He was the only actor in the film who improvised all his lines,” Ramirez said and added that Critchlow was one of the many actors in the movie actually from Preston, Idaho, where the movie was filmed.

Ramirez also talked about what it is like to be an actor, emphasizing multiple times that as an actor it is important to also be an artist.

“You have two choices, you can be a celebrity and just work on reaching fame, or you can be an artist,” he said. “But to be an artist is to be able to do Shakespeare on stage, to be able to talk about Tennessee Williams, David Mamet, to work with playwrights and do theater on stage.”