'Napoleon Dynamite' to star with Kristen Bell

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DENVER - Here's a power couple we didn't see coming: Jon "Napoleon Dynamite" Heder and Kristen Bell. But that's the pairing audiences will get early next year in the rom-com "When In Rome."

To be fair, we expect Heder to lose the girl to hunky "Rome" co-star Josh Duhamel (spoiler!), but that's missing the point. The point is that five years after "Napoleon," nearly everyone who touched the quirky cult classic has found themselves catapulted to very real stardom. And these days, you may not even recognize them without their unflattering eyewear, boondoggle key chains and homemade campaign t-shirts.

With "Napoleon" writer/director Jared Hess's "Gentlemen Broncos" set to open in limited release today, it seems like a good time to take a survey of what everyone's been up to since "Dynamite" and what's next on their respective plates.

Gap commercials, web series and movie after movie after movie, "Napoleon Dynamite" catapulted titular star Heder to the mainstream. He's shared top billing in films with Will Ferrell ("Blades of Glory"), Diane Keaton ("Mama's Boy") and Reese Witherspoon ("Just Like Heaven"). He recently completed a full season of online zombie-comedy series "Woke Up Dead." That's all in addition to the big-budget date flick "When In Rome." Not too shabby for a gawky kid from Preston, Idaho.

But Heder's journey isn't even the best one. For the fate of the rest of the cast, check Metromix's before-and-after photo gallery.