NachoLibre Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Things certainly seem to be moving quickly for Gentlemen Broncos. Five days ago, Patrick had first broke the news on the follow-up project for Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre creator Jared Hess. Now, The Hollywood Reporter has already announced that Sam Rockwell has signed to star along side Flight of the Conchords creator Jermaine Clement for the teen comedy. The story centers on a teen fantasy novelist who has his story ripped off by his idol at a writer's camp. Michael Angarano (Lords of Dogtown) will play the teen that comes up with the fantasy story with the unfortunate title of Yeast Lords.

Rockwell will play the fictional character in the story and there will be some "book-come-to-life sequences under two guises: one in the teen's story and one in the author's story". Well, if anybody can pull it off, it would be Rockwell -- the man has a knack for playing some of the most diverse characters without breaking a sweat. If you don't believe me, take an afternoon and watch The Green Mile and then Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and tell me those are two pretty impressive ends of the spectrum.

The script was written by the husband and wife team of Jared and Jerusha Hess, and will be produced Mike White and Ben LeClair. Both White and LeClair worked with Hess before on Nacho Libre. So it looks like Patrick's prediction came true and the cast is going to be an 'indie' affair, but with the addition of Rockwell and Clement there's just a smidgen more of 'hipster' cred. Gentlemen Broncos is scheduled to start production this March and arrive in theaters some time in 2009.

Jared Hess loves exploring the nerds, geeks, freaks, outsiders, and weirdos of the world, and God bless him for that. The outcasts are always far more interesting than the cool kids. Hess kicked off his career with Napoleon Dynamite, and if you can measure a film's popularity by how often people quote its dialogue, then Napoleon is one of the most beloved films in recent years. He followed Napoleon up with the less favorably received Nacho Libre. I think the problem most people had with Nacho is that they weren't expecting it to be a kids' movie, but I kind of dug it. It was certainly an original, and had some great visuals. Now Joblo has the scoop on his next project -- Gentlemen Broncos.

From Bronco's description and lead character (a high school outcast), it seems Hess is aiming to recapture that Napoleon magic. The film will focus on "an aspiring fantasy author. He attends a fantasy convention to show off his work and finds his supposed masterpiece - Yeast Lords - ripped off by legendary novelist Ronald Chevalier, who has turned desperate for ideas." It sounds pretty funny to me, and the whole Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings fanboy world should certainly provide Hess with ample comedy ammunition. And since his mockery tends to be pretty sweet-natured, I doubt he'll alienate those fans. No word on casting, but I wouldn't expect huge names -- it seems he'll be doing Broncos as a pretty indie affair. As with his previous films, Hess will direct and co-wrote the script with his wife, Jerusha. Sweeet.

In 1989, Daniel Neman, a staff writer at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, began counting flatulence jokes in movies, beginning with the lovable cop-and-dog buddy comedy K-9. This year, thanks to Nacho Libre and Click, his list of movies with funny farts has reached a milestone of 100 (that seems surprisingly low). So, to celebrate, he has written a little piece in his paper about the overused gag, which he claims made its first appearance thirty years ago in Blazing Saddles. Basically he tells us what we should already know: flatulence isn't actually funny, especially not after more than 100 movies. So why do filmmakers continue to include flatulence for comedic effect? Neman blames film school, that place where he says future writers and directors learn to copy what has been done before. In fact, according to him, the entire lack of originality in Hollywood these days is because of film school.

Well, I kinda see Neman's point about film students being too obsessed with the filmmakers who came before them, but if film school graduates were actually copying the greats that much, then today's movies would probably be better than they are. Anyway, I went to film school, and I don't recall a class that taught flatulence. Maybe in the ten years that I've been out of school it was added to the curriculum, but I doubt it. The kinds of movies that use fart jokes, except for maybe Blazing Saddles, are just not the kind studied at film school.

So what could be the real reason screenwriters put the gag into their scripts? Easy answer: People still laugh at it. Even if we know it isn't really funny we still sometimes laugh. Especially if we're 10, and exist in the demographic to which Hollywood caters.

[via Fark.com]

Just when I thought World Wrestling Entertainment couldn't be more of a joke, I learned through Fark.com that WWE's website features Jack Black -- actually his Nacho Libre character, Ignacio, aka "Nacho" -- in its roster of Smackdown Superstars. If you go to the site, Black can be found hidden among "real" wrestlers. Click on his photo, and there's all kinds of advertising for the new film from Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess.

I know that WWE has become interested in Hollywood, but does Hollywood need to be interested in WWE? Maybe giving Black to Vince McMahon is payback for his giving the studios The Rock (I can't think of who got shafted, more)? Actually this is a pretty good cross-promotion for Paramount. As hard as it is for some of us to believe, millions of fans still love wresting and many of them will probably be drawn to this movie. I say WWE fans and Jack Black can have each other.

Since the original studio announcement of the upcoming Nacho Libre film starring Jack Black, I (along with many of you) have been amused by the concept and eager to discover more. The insanity of Black mixed with the sheer absurdity of the provided plot seem like a recipe for comic gold for reasons I can't even begin to fathom. It should be the worst movie ever created -- but somehow I'm drawn to it. And my bug-to-the-shiny-bright-light fascination has grown exponentially today thanks to IGN Filmforce, who has shared a solid, exclusive collection of photos and audio from the film (check it out here).

The top picture shows Jack Black in a monk-esque habit, holding what appears to be a Bible and shaking his finger reproachfully at a pudgy child. As you would expect, this picture is absurd. But Jack Black makes it amusing. The final picture they share has Black riding on the front of a bike styled moped, striking a classic Jack Black pose. Yes, the man is ridiculous and over the top. And yet we love him -- it almost defies understanding. I encourage you to listen to the audio clips as well. I'd list a few of my favorites here, but when they aren't coming from the crazy man himself they just lose the magic.

What do you get when you combine the director of Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess) and the writer of School of Rock (Mike White)? Well, you get a quirky character comedy about a Mexican wrestler starring Jack Black. Wait, Jack Black is Mexican? Um, no, but he seems to play it pretty well.

AICN has an exclusive internet only trailer for Nacho Libre, which means absolutely nothing except that anyone who clicks on the internet can watch it. And that's everyone. Crazy. In the film, Black plays a man raised in a monastery (now its cook) who dons a very unflattering outfit and joins a Luca Libre tournament in order to help save his house of God from its financial woes.

Not surprisingly, the film definitely has that Napoleon Dymamite feel, complete with a funny looking leader and his wimpy associates, set against a colorful backdrop and catchy one-liners. However (and I assume Mike White had something to do with this), the film appears to have a more clear-cut story and a lot more heart. That's not to say Dynamite didn't have any heart...it did. But, ya know, I can have my opinion too. God!