With his summer hit Tropic Thunder giving him some juice, writer/actor/director Ben Stiller is currently looking around for the best way to capitalize on his renewed status as a comedy hitmaker. One possible project he is looking at is a return to a former cinematic creation, the dim-witted fashion model Derek Zoolander.
As Stiller told the London tabloid The Sun*-
I’ve been trying to get Zoolander 2 together and we’ve had a few scripts. I feel that is the sequel I really would like to do some day because I like the original and I would make sure it was something new and worthy of it first.
While I admire Stiller’s desire to return for a second helping of Zoolander and his equally vapid fashion model friends, I am not sure that we will ever see it at the local Cineplex. Personally, I loved the film, especially in that, much like Tropic Thunder, it felt like an idea for his old FOX sketch series, The Ben Stiller Show, writ large. But whereas most feature films originating from Saturday Night Live alum, this one actually is a strong enough comic idea to support an entire full-length movie.
But Zoolander didn’t make much of a splash at the boxoffice and I don’t think that it ever caught a second wind on home video. If it had, I’m sure that the studio would have by now released multiple DVD versions, including a 2-disc Special Collector’s Edition followed by a special limited “Pose-Off” Box Set Edition.
I also have to wonder how much further Stiller can stretch his parody of the world of high fashion when a reality show like America’s Next Top Model portrays the industry as close to self-parody anyway.
*Standard British tabloid disclaimer applies.
I didn’t like Zoolander nor Tropic Thunder. Ben Stiller, no matter what the role, is just Ben Stiller playing . . . . whatever. You rarely believe his character is real. CLosest time, IMO, was Meet the Parents.