Ben Stillerhas had a fair share of hits over the years and one of them was 2001’sZoolander, a film that scored at the box office and became a comedic cult hit in the process with movie fans. Despite the success of the film, a sequel wouldn’t arrive until 15 years later, whenZoolander 2was released in 2016. All signs pointed to the movie being a potential hit, but it was met with dismal reviews and a pitiful box office. Now Stiller is admitting that the film’s disappointing turn completely blindsided him.
During a chat with David Duchovny onDuchovny’sFail Betterpodcast, Stiller opened up about the commercial and critical failure ofZoolander 2. Stiller wrote, produced, directed and starred in the 2016 sequel, alongside fan favorites from the first film,Owen Wilsonand Will Ferrell, while newcomers included Penélope Cruz. The aftermath of the film’s release was an experience that deeply affected Stiller, with that actor saying:
“I thought everybody wanted this. And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really f*cked this up. Everybody didn’t go to it. And it’s gotten these horrible reviews.”
Zoolander 2
Zoolander 2 Failed to Match the Success of the First Film
When it was released in 2001,Zoolanderbecame a seminal comedic film of its time period. The film was a box office success, grossing $60.8 million worldwide on a $28 million budget, and it received mostly positive notices from critics. It would also go on to become a cult classic and continues to be a film that is heavily quoted and memed. The sequel was another beast entirely, as it received mostly negative reviews and it only grossed $56.7 million globally against a reported budget of $50-55 million. Stiller admits that the reaction caused him to question if he was losing what made him funny in the first place.
“It really freaked me out because I was like, ‘I didn’t know was that bad?’ What scared me the most on that one was I’m losing what I think what’s funny, the questioning yourself…on Zoolander 2, it was definitely blindsiding to me. And it definitely affected me for a long time.”
Ben Stiller Sees the Bright Side of Zoolander 2 Bombing at Box Office
Zoolander 2 flopping was ‘not a great experience’ for Ben Stiller, but the director is pretty happy with how things have gone from there.
Despite the failure ofZoolander 2, it did open up something in Stiller that led to a period of introspection that ultimately led to new projects and new opportunities that reignited his creativity.
“The wonderful thing that came out of that for me was just have space where, if that had been a hit, and they said, ‘Make Zoolander 3 right now,’ or offered some other movie, I would have just probably jumped in and done that. But I had this space to kind of sit with myself and have to deal with it and other projects that I had been working on, not comedies, some of them, I have time to actually just work and develop.”
Stiller’s postZoolander 2work saw him taking a break from comedy and exploring other genres. He directed the crime dramaEscape at Dannemorain 2018, which earned Stiller a DGA Award for Outstanding Directing - Miniseries or TV Film, and he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the project. He also served as a producer and director on the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ series, Severance.
ZoolanderandZoolander 2are available to stream on Paramount+
