Napoleon Dynamite Cast With Arnold Schwarzenegger Is A Deepfake Monstrosity

Movies

The strange, almost surreal "Napoleon Dynamite" endures as one of the best comedies of all time two decades after its release, and for good reason. It's an entirely unique feature that stands out among the comedies of its time, most of the jokes still land, and, of course, the performances of the main cast still hold up as well. The likes of Jon Heder, Tina Majorino, and Efren Ramirez, turned in star-making work in front of the camera, hence why their characters are still pop culture favorites in the modern era. Still, some have begged the question, what if "Napoleon Dynamite" featured Arnold Schwarzenegger?

In truth, likely no one has asked this question, but Joe Gaudet provided an answer anyway. Over on Instagram, he posted a video of what "Napoleon Dynamite" would be like if the action movie legend appeared in the film as Rico: Napoleon (Heder) and Kip's (Aaron Ruell) uncle who's stuck in his past as a football star, portrayed by Jon Gries in the movie. Deepfake technology was used to superimpose "The Terminator" star's face over Gries', and Gaudet pulled off a pretty spot-on impression of Schwarzenegger's iconic accent that almost killed his Hollywood career to bring the scene to life. Suffice to say, it's a bit uncanny to look at, but it's funny all the same.

The visual portion of this clip comes from comedian Brian Monarch, who has had some fun inserting Schwarzenegger into various movies previously.

Adding Schwarzenegger to pretty much anything is funny

With the aid of deepfake technology, Brian Monarch has made all kinds of uncanny creations on his Instagram page. From putting podcast host Theo Von's face onto the body of wrestling legend Eddie Guerrero to go into a promo battle with The Rock to casting Al Pacino as "Seinfeld" staple Cosmo Kramer, he has shown that the comedy potential of such tech is near-unlimited. This is perhaps no better exemplified than through his numerous movie scene parodies featuring the face and impersonated voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yes, his horrifying yet hilarious work putting Schwarzenegger into "Napoleon Dynamite" is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Monarch's Arnie deepfake endeavors. He has inserted the face of the confusing moment-loaded "Terminator" franchise into numerous beloved titles, including "Elf," "Pirates of the Caribbean," and "Rocky IV," to name a few. He has even taken this idea to other forms of media, putting Schwarzenegger's likeness over that of the late country star Johnny Cash in his "Hurt" music video for example. Joe Gaudet's strong Schwarzenegger impression is the icing on the cake for every one of these videos.