Career Highlights

• Hess has worked as a camera assistant in a number of films and has played minor roles in a few LDS comedies. These include The Singles Ward, The R.M. and Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy.
• Also directs commercials and music videos for production company Moxie Pictures.
• Hess, his wife, actor Jon Heder and producer Jeremy Coon all attended Brigham Young University together.
• Peluca was chosen as one of the 12 shorts to compete at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival.

Career Overview

Jared Hess – writer, director, and producer –attended Brigham Young University’s film school where he met his wife and a few other friends who would be vital in his success in the film industry. Hess began as a camera assistant for various companies and a director of photography for IMAX films; he was determined from a very young age to be successful as a filmmaker. He wrote and directed the award winning short film Peluca that starred Brigham Young classmate and friend Jon Heder. The short was also a prototype for his first feature film Napoleon Dynamite.

Hess co-wrote and directed the film with his wife Jerusha and BYU classmate Jeremy Coon produced and edited it. Napoleon Dynamite, which was shot in his hometown in Idaho and was based on his own family’s stories, was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and won much critical acclaim, including the Film Discovery Jury Award at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. Jared and Jerusha’s second film was 2006’s Nacho Libre. The film stars Jack Black as a monastery cook who follows his passion for wrestling and enters a tournament to try to win the big prize. Hess is collaborating with producer Mike White for his next project, a film called Gentlemen Broncos that will be released in October 2009.

Gentlemen Broncos tells the story of Benjamin (Michael Angarano), teenage fantasy writer, who turns to his imagination to escape his home schooled life full of eccentricities. The awkward, aspiring fantasy writer attends a convention to display his work “Bronco” and enters it into a writing contest judged by the illustrious fantasy novelist, Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement). Facing the threat of becoming a has-been sci-fi writer, Chevalier steals young Benjamin’s story, which is then adapted to a horrendous film.

Our Interview

Jared joined ThinkTalk host Erika Thomas on October 28th for a discussion on his career and his newest film, Gentleman Broncos. Jared also took some time to answer questions from students at the University of Maryland.