50 free Napoleon Dynamite trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
48 free Napoleon Dynamite trivia questions with answers. Napoleon Dynamite cost $400,000, paid its star $1,000, and became one of the most quoted comedies of the 2000s. This Napoleon Dynamite trivia quiz covers the film front to back: Preston, Idaho and the Hess family, the BYU short Peluca, Kip and his internet girlfriend from Detroit, Uncle Rico's van and his football, Pedro's campaign, Deb's boondoggle keychains, Rex Kwon Do, Tina the llama and the Jamiroquai dance that ate half the budget. It also covers what happened around the movie: the Sundance pickup, the Elvis Costello name coincidence, the actors who almost played Uncle Rico, the MTV Movie Awards, the six-episode Fox cartoon, the Burger King tots ad and the 20th-anniversary restoration. Roughly a third of the questions are quotes anyone who has seen it will get, a third need a rewatch, and the rest are for people who know who designed the opening credits. Every answer is checked against a cited source shown beneath the question. Gosh.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which state is Napoleon Dynamite set and filmed?
Idaho
Preston, near the Utah border, is the director's hometown; locals fed and housed the crew during the July 2003 shoot.
Q 02Who directed Napoleon Dynamite?
Jared Hess
It was his first feature; he co-wrote it with his wife Jerusha, who says she really was like Deb growing up.
Q 03What was the film's budget?
$400,000
It went on to gross more than a hundred times its budget worldwide.
Q 04Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide?
$46 million
Not bad for a movie that opened in a handful of theatres and paid its star $1,000.
Q 05What was the title of the short film the movie grew out of?
Peluca
The nine-minute black-and-white BYU class project starred Heder as a nerd named Seth and screened at Slamdance in 2003.
Q 06Heder and Hess met as film students where?
Brigham Young
Producer Jeremy Coon talked Hess into dropping out to make the feature.
Q 07How much was Jon Heder originally paid for playing Napoleon?
$1,000
He renegotiated after the film became a runaway hit; a casting director had wanted Jake Gyllenhaal instead.
Q 08Which studio picked the film up at its January 2004 festival premiere?
Fox Searchlight
Paramount and MTV Films handled the international release; Fox even paid for the post-credits wedding scene.
Q 09What is the name of Napoleon's older brother?
Kip
Kipland Ronald Dynamite chats online with babes all day and dreams of fighting professionally.
Q 10Kip's internet girlfriend LaFawnduh travels from which city?
Detroit
She gives Kip an urban makeover and Napoleon a mixtape, and the two ride off on a bus to Michigan.
Q 11Pedro is a transfer student from which city?
Juárez
He runs for class president against Summer Wheatly and, stressed out, shaves his own head.
Q 12How does Grandma Carlinda injure herself?
A quad bike accident
Her broken tailbone is what brings Uncle Rico and his camper van to town.
Q 13What does Uncle Rico drive?
A 1975 Dodge Tradesman van
He lives in it, and much of the film's tech is similarly frozen in time: top-loader VCR, Walkman, dial-up.
Q 21Which comedy veteran shot all his scenes as martial arts instructor Rex in a single day?
Diedrich Bader
Rex Kwon Do's motto: 'Bow to your sensei.'
Q 22Whose idea was the film's opening titles written on plates of food and a tube of ChapStick?
Aaron Ruell
The film had originally been made without opening titles at all.
Q 23How many MTV Movie Awards did the film win in 2005?
Three
Breakthrough Male Performance, Best Musical Performance and Best Movie, for a film MTV Films itself co-released.
Q 24Where did Napoleon Dynamite land on Bravo's list of the 100 funniest films?
Q 14Which song does Napoleon dance to at the school assembly?
'Canned Heat' by Jamiroquai
Heder danced to three songs because they weren't sure they could afford the rights; the Jamiroquai licence ate about half the budget.
Q 15Summer Wheatly performs her election skit to which song?
'Larger than Life' by Backstreet Boys
The Happy Hands club are her backup dancers.
Q 16Who helped choreograph Heder's famous dance?
Tina Majorino
Heder says he improvised, borrowing moves from Saturday Night Fever, Michael Jackson and Soul Train, and they cut together the best of three takes.
Q 17What competition do Napoleon and Pedro enter to show off their 'skills'?
A Future Farmers of America contest
They grade milk and cow udders, which is exactly as glamorous as it sounds.
Q 18What is the name of the instructional videotape Napoleon buys?
D-Qwon's Dance Grooves
His verdict while practising: 'This is pretty much the worst video ever made.'
Q 19Which musician had used the name 'Napoleon Dynamite' as a pseudonym years before the film?
Elvis Costello
Hess says he took it from a man he met in Cicero, Illinois while on a Mormon mission, and only heard about Costello two days before shooting ended.
Q 20Who was almost cast as Uncle Rico?
Vincent Gallo
Jason Lee was also offered the part; Brad Garrett auditioned for Rex but declined.
Number 14
Entertainment Weekly separately ranked Napoleon #88 among the 100 greatest characters of the previous 20 years.
Q 25Napoleon's big assembly routine came about because the Hesses knew what about Jon Heder?
He liked to dance
Jerusha had seen him boogie and thought it was pretty sweet; Heder allowed that he liked to dabble.
Q 26What does Napoleon ride to arrive late at Kip's wedding?
A stallion
He tamed it as a wedding gift so the couple could ride off on it; Fox paid extra for the post-credits scene.
Q 27Who plays Deb, the shy girl who sells glamour shots and knick-knacks for college?
Tina Majorino
Haylie Duff plays her rival Summer Wheatly.
Q 28Who plays Uncle Rico?
Jon Gries
Gries had spent the 90s as the white producer Shawn on the sitcom Martin.
Q 29Napoleon describes which animal as 'pretty much my favorite animal ... bred for its skills in magic'?
A liger
It's like a lion and a tiger mixed, and he draws one in class.
Q 30Which bully demands 'Give me some of your tots'?
Randy
Napoleon had stashed the tater tots in his cargo pocket; Randy kicks them.