In the pantheon of big-screen romances, theirs has become an instant classic: Kip and LaFawnduh. The passion of their chat-room relationship burns up the scenes in "Napoleon Dynamite." And as fate would have it, the leading man is a Fresnan.

Actor-director Aaron Ruell, 28, a 1994 Clovis West graduate, joined up with a couple buddies from BYU (director Jared Hess and actor Jon Heder) to costar in "Dynamite" as Napoleon's geeked-out bro Kip, who morphs from mustachioed pipsqueak to bling-bling hustla. The film was a crowd fave at the Sundance Film Festival and is now a cult hit in theaters.

Fresyes recently scored a Q&A with Ruell, who's married to his editor, Yuka, and is currently living "in the mellow town of Pasadena." His next gig will be as director, for his feature "Warm Blue Day."

So, how long did you live in the 'No?
I lived in Fresno till I was 12. We lived right in the middle of the Tower District. Then my parents built a house in the country of Clovis, which is where I lived till I moved out at 19.

Did you go straight to BYU after high school?
I went on a mission -- I'm Mormon -- to Guatemala when I was 19. Got back, went to a semester at Fresno State, then transferred to the film program at BYU. That's where I met up with Jared. We did everything together up there -- always worked on each other's films. He actually introduced me to my wife, and three years later, we returned the favor by introducing him to who would later become his wife.

So for the part of Kip, were you his first choice?
Jared wrote the part of Kip for me and forced me to play it.

Are you anything like Kip in real life? Fan of chat rooms, maybe? Time travel?
Everyone's got a little bit of Kip in them. But Kip is partially based on my real-life little brother. The time-machine scene really happened, down to the crystals.

Did you ever expect "Napoleon Dynamite" to end up like this? Sundance alone must have been wild…
No, nobody involved with the film ever thought it would be one of "the" films at Sundance, let alone get into the festival. It was really surreal. Here was this festival we had been to a number of times as normal "movie goers," and then to be part of it all was so weird and odd and nice.

"Napoleon" is based in rural Preston, Idaho. Any similarities between there and a certain hometown?
A little bit. Clovis is a really country-like town. I mean, we've got a rodeo, right? Big Hat Days? So it was somewhat similar, but Preston was like Clovis times 100. That place was pretty hardcore.

How many times did you get slapped for that early scene with Napoleon (Jon Heder)?
Not too many. Jon's a pansy boy. … No, Jon was pretty mellow with his slaps. It was the Rex Kwon Do scenes that messed me up. (Actor Diedrich) Bader slapped the crap out of me in that scene.

So you're also a director. What's "Warm Blue Day" about?
It's about an old blind man and a young girl who each have very different addictions, and how, through this odd friendship that they strike up, how they help each other deal with these addictions. Sounds sappy, but I promise it's not.

Jared is one of my producers on that. We hope to be in production on that by year's end or early next year.

Ok, quick: Blackbeard's or Clovis Lakes?
Clovis Lakes, but back when it was only four waterslides and "The Rampage." And you parked in a big dirt lot.

Jerry Tarkanian or Boyd Grant?
Tark the Shark.

Name your favorite Fresno hangout.
I always liked the chicken pie shop.