Jon Heder: Mormonism Prevented Taking Raunchy Roles

While Napoleon and Deb share a sweet (and bizarre) romance, the indie flick "Napoleon Dynamite" for the most part showed more exposed gum line than hemline. The film, by and large, was devoid of any sort of sex appeal, defying teen comedy standards to launch Jon Heder to stardom.

Heder starred in a flurry of films after that, including Will Ferrell's "Blades of Glory," but turned down far more roles than he accepted. Having proved he could make it without the carnal story lines, he made sure to avoid them going forward.

"I did get a lot of offers, especially back then, of stuff that I’m not comfortable with," he told Vulture on Tuesday. "A lot of the projects just seemed too raunchy. Quite honestly, a lot of it was that: the raunch factor. I’ve never been interested in doing those kinds of projects."

One of the guiding lights that Heder followed while navigating his suddenly booming career was his Mormon religion, he said.

"Absolutely it comes from how I was raised. It’s just kind of who I am," he said. "These are the standards I live by and whatever comes my way in the future, whether filmmaking or animation or whatever, I’m going to do my best to live by those standards."

In fact, Heder has long made his stance on the issue public; back in 2005, at the height of his powers, he put out the word that he would be avoiding all the sorts of indecent proposals he was receiving.

"It's simply about knowing who you are and sticking to what you believe in," he told Time Magazine. "Sometimes there's language issues. I'm not interested in sexual content."

In 2007, he told the newspaper of his alma mater, BYU, that he once got into a fight over a raunchy scene with a director.

"I finally came to the decision and told them, 'Look, it's either me or this scene. If you're going to keep the scene in, then I am going to have to say no,'" Heder remembered; the scene was cut and Heder stayed employed.

For more from Heder, including discussion about the new animated version of "Napoleon Dynamite," click over to Vulture.

Comments

[kennymi1962]

08:24 AM on 03/04/2012

More people dislike mormons than they dislike muslims. Why is that?

[STaR Scream 81]

10:24 PM on 02/21/2012

Actually his career is tanking, he probably should have chosen a different profession if he wants to stay true to who he is. Isnt acting the complete opposite of that?

[tori griffith]

10:18 PM on 02/21/2012

Good for him! :)

[SkreetGil1]

09:20 PM on 02/21/2012

You are so much better than the starving artist that takes on those roles to survive.

[modernmormon]

11:42 PM on 01/25/2012

Mormons know far better than you do about what they believe and why they believe it. We have long ago stopped worrying about public opinion or approval. We have never been fairly represented by the media. We go our own way fearlessly, and by the way far from cluelessly. We actually do the things that God has commanded. We don't go to church to praise Him then live our every day lives to disgrace His name. I can not understand why there is so much hate. We have never tried to tell you how to live your lives why do you constantly try to rip ours to shreds? If you feel guilty for your bad choices that is for you to sort out. But it will never change what we choose to do. To the therapist who posted: you seem way to volatile and immature to be a counselor. I have a Bachelors in Psychology so I would know. And guess what I am a Mormon women with three children, and am divorced from an abusive man. I don't blame my faith or God for this difficult path. We each have a choice about how will navigate our lives! I choose to stand and know that God is with me! Nothing you can say will ever change that!

[Believe in yourself]

12:00 PM on 01/14/2012

"It's simply about knowing who you are and sticking to what you believe in," he told...

There's nothing with that statement, but the key word there is "knowing." Most of the mormons only think they know what they believe in. They quickly leave the church or get excommunicated when they find out (or ask questions) about some of the information that their church continuously suppresses from its followers.
If you think he doesn't do the same raunchy stuff that he turns down to do on camera in real life, then you're fooling yourself. Mormons do everything and anything they want. I lived amongst them for 10 years. They only don't do it in front of others (sometimes) or on camera. Other than that they're regular people just like everyone else (which is ok).

[setaf01]

11:20 PM on 01/12/2012

A nice article. I'm glad to see several positive comments about it and morals in general. As to the negative comments, well it's too bad to see how many people are so angry about their lives and the lives of others. Agree to disagree and get on with life.

[metoo123]

03:58 PM on 01/12/2012

Once thing we can be assured of, with such strict conditions for working as an actor, he will never do anything by Shakespeare. The epitome of testing one's acting chops and raunchy behavior GALORE! There is a god, after all!

[ljmck]

03:29 PM on 01/12/2012

Ah, the self-satisfaction of being Mormon -- and utterly oblivious!

[Just My Thoughts 2011]

01:55 PM on 01/12/2012

Religious or not, we all have convictions, and lines we will not cross.

Good for Jon!

[Ajax]

01:32 PM on 01/12/2012

So he won't take "raunchy" roles, but has no problem paying 10 percent of his income (which all Mormons must pay as their "tithing") to a bigoted organization - the Mormon church - that uses its immense wealth to fight against equal rights for those they don't approve of. Sorry, but I'll take "raunch" over that, any day.

[Drew Kenney]

01:40 AM on 01/18/2012

To be clear the LDS Church did not use tithing funds to support Prop 8, what it did do is ask its members to donate specifically to that cause.

I agree its support was wrong, but lets get the facts straight.

[Ajax]

10:12 AM on 01/18/2012

You say to-MAH-to, I say to-MAY-to. The Mormon church has been spending untold millions of dollars to fight equal rights for people they don't approve of, and this has been going on for decades. Before gays, it was blacks. Where do you think all that money is coming from? Beyond all their vast business holdings, a lot of their wealth comes from members' tithes. To give them 10 percent of your income is to support all their causes and endeavors. To say that no tithing funds were used to support Prop 8 is wide of the mark.

The Mormon Church initially said that it had only donated $2,000 to the Yes on 8 campaign, but in a filing with the California Secretary of State, the LDS Church admitted to spending $190,000 on travel expenses for high-rankimg members of the Church, food, audiovisual services, permits and most damningly, on their own staff and offices.

[surfandshop]

12:13 PM on 01/12/2012

Why is it that within five muniues of meeting a mormon, they have to tell you that they are mormon?
Too bad, I may have wanted to get to know them.

[Just My Thoughts 2011]

01:52 PM on 01/12/2012

Same reason that gays want people to know that they are proudly gay, I suppose.

[F4U Corsair]

03:44 PM on 01/12/2012

Wow you hit that dead on!

[unclecrackre]

10:37 AM on 01/12/2012

Good for him for standing up for his beliefs. All too often stars will do whatever it takes to be famous. Even to the point of sacrificing what few values they might have had. Kudos to you Mr. Heder.

[rcdunn5]

10:24 AM on 01/12/2012

WOW! if only holly weird had more like Jon. God will surely bless him. The things of God are foolish to men -- so if you think this is nuts, then you don't know Christ and are in the dark.

[nvfeller]

09:04 AM on 01/12/2012

Has-been humblebrag