Zoolander

Last updated

Zoolander
Movie poster zoolander.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ben Stiller
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Drake Sather
  • Ben Stiller
Based onCharacters created
by Drake Sather
Ben Stiller
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Barry Peterson
Edited byGreg Hayden
Music by David Arnold
Production
companies
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • September 28, 2001 (2001-09-28)
Running time
89 minutes [1]
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$28 million [2] [3]
Box office$60.8 million [2]

Zoolander is a 2001 American comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. [4] The earlier short films and this film feature Derek Zoolander (Stiller), a dimwitted supermodel. It is the last film from Paramount Pictures with the involvement of Village Roadshow Pictures.

Contents

In the film, top people in the fashion industry, Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) and Derek's agent Maury Ballstein (Jerry Stiller), are hired by other executives to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia (Woodrow Asai), who will pass progressive laws that would harm their businesses. Mugatu and Ballstein plan to brainwash Zoolander into killing him. Meanwhile, Zoolander has several personal and career issues, including declining popularity, disappointment in his career choice from his family, and trying to find his true purpose which he suspects is not being a model. Through much research, journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor) becomes aware of the planned assassination and informs Derek about it. After Derek reconciles with the competing male model Hansel McDonald (Owen Wilson), the three try to stop the Prime Minister's assassination from happening.

A satire on the fashion industry, the film received generally favorable reviews from critics and was a box-office success. A sequel, Zoolander 2 , was released in February 2016. [5] An animated film, Zoolander: Super Model , was released on Netflix UK in August 2016. [6]

Plot

In New York City, male model Derek Zoolander is at a low point; he is ousted as the top male fashion model by the rising star Hansel McDonald, his roommates and colleagues are killed in a "freak gasoline-fight accident", and an attempt to reconnect with his southern New Jersey working class relatives ends with the family rejecting him. Meanwhile, fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu and Derek's agent Maury Ballstein are charged by the fashion industry with finding a model who can be brainwashed into assassinating the new progressive-leaning Prime Minister of Malaysia, whose policies will prohibit them from retaining cheap child labor in the country. Mugatu hires Derek, whom he had never worked with, to star in the next runway show for his brainwashing plan. It involves Derek being conditioned to attempt the assassination when the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is played.

Matilda Jeffries, feeling responsible for Derek's downfall as she wrote a critical Time article about him, becomes suspicious of Mugatu's offer. She tells her concerns to Derek, but he ignores her. After receiving info through calls from former hand model J.P. Prewett, Matilda and Derek meet him in a cemetery. Prewett reveals that the fashion industry has been behind several of history's political assassinations, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy and the brainwashed models are soon killed after they have completed their task. Mugatu's cronies attack the group, forcing Derek and Matilda to flee. They go to Hansel's home, the last place they believe Mugatu will think to look. Derek, Hansel, and Matilda bond, the two male models resolving their differences while partaking of Hansel's collection of narcotics and participating in group sex with Matilda and others. Derek and Hansel break into Maury's office to find evidence of the assassination plot, but they cannot operate his computer to find them.

Derek goes to the runway, and Mugatu's disc jockey plays a remix version of "Relax". This activates Derek's mental programming, only for it to stop after Hansel breaks into the DJ booth and shuts off the turntable. After Hansel smashes the computer on the floor (since he took Matilda saying the incriminating files were "in the computer" literally), a guilt-ridden Maury admits to the conspiracy. Mugatu then attempts to kill the Prime Minister himself by throwing a shuriken at him, but Derek stops it by unleashing his ultimate model look, "Magnum". In Derek's rural hometown, his father Larry watches the event on television, and proudly acknowledges Derek as his son while Mugatu is arrested. A few years later, Derek, Hansel, and Maury start "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too". Derek and Matilda have a son named Derek Zoolander Jr., who has already developed his first modeling look.

Cast

David Bowie and Billy Zane made prominent cameos as themselves, with Bowie acting as judge for a "walk-off", and Zane appearing as a friend of Derek. Comedian Godfrey and Taj Crown appear as janitor disguises for Derek and Hansel, respectively. Also making cameos were Lance Bass, Tyson Beckford, Victoria Beckham, Emma Bunton, Stephen Dorff, Shavo Odadjian, Fred Durst, Tom Ford, Cuba Gooding Jr., Fabio Lanzoni, Theo Kogan, Lukas Haas, Tommy Hilfiger, Paris Hilton, Carmen Kass, Heidi Klum, Lenny Kravitz, Karl Lagerfeld, Lil' Kim, James Marsden, Anne Meara, Natalie Portman, Frankie Rayder, Mark Ronson, Gavin Rossdale, Winona Ryder, Garry Shandling, Christian Slater, Gwen Stefani, Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Donatella Versace, Sandra Bernhard, Amanda Lepore and Veronica Webb.

Production notes

Development

Ben Stiller first created the character for a skit at the 1996 VH1 Fashion Awards. [7] The name "Derek Zoolander" was invented by Bates while he was editing the first short film, and was inspired by the names of two male models who both worked for Calvin Klein: the Dutchman Mark Vanderloo and the American Johnny Zander. [8] [9]

Casting

Owen Wilson was Stiller's first choice for the role of Hansel but it was uncertain if he would be available and auditions were held. Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for the role. Andy Dick was going to play Mugatu, but was unavailable due to a previous commitment to the TV show Go Fish . [7] [10] Stiller had originally intended to play Derek's agent Maury as well, but was already set to play the lead role and direct the film, leading him to cast his father Jerry Stiller as Maury instead. [11]

David Bowie appeared as himself as the judge of the walk-off scene, filming his cameo in September 2000. He later stated, "It was just too funny a script to walk past. An absolute hoot!" [12] With his entrance accompanied by a freeze-frame and a snippet of his song "Let's Dance" (1983), biographer Nicholas Pegg describes Bowie's appearance as "willingly sending up the media's image of him as the ultimate arbiter of cool." [12]

Filming

The opening scenes were filmed at the real life 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards during commercial breaks. [11]

"Derelicte" is the name given to the fashion line designed by Mugatu and is a parody of a real fashion line created by John Galliano in 2000. [13] It is described by Mugatu in the film as "a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique." The fashion line in the film consists of clothing made from everyday objects that could be found on the streets of New York. Galliano used clothing worn by the destitute as an inspiration for a real-life fashion line in 2000.

During the scene in which David Duchovny, as J.P. Prewett, explains the conspiracy to Derek, he finishes answering Derek's original question "Why male models?" only for Stiller, in character, to ask again, "But why male models?" Stiller improvised this line because he had forgotten what he was actually supposed to say, but Duchovny allowed it, replying in character, "You serious? I just... I just told you that a moment ago." [11]

The original ending to the film would have entailed Derek getting fatally struck by a train and ascending to heaven, but the idea was scrapped as the producers feared they could not fit it into the film's original budget. [11]

Censorship

Zoolander was never shown in Malaysia, as the film depicts an attempted assassination of the Malaysian prime minister. Malaysia's censorship board deemed it "definitely unsuitable". [14] [15] The film was also banned in neighboring Singapore [16] due to "controversial elements" according to the country's Board of Film Censors. [17] It was subsequently made available in Singapore in 2006, [18] with an NC-16 rating. In the United States, the film was originally rated R for its sexual content, profanity, and drug references, but was later re-rated PG-13 on appeal.[ citation needed ]

In the Asian release, all references to the country of Malaysia were changed to Micronesia, the subregion which Hansel mistook for Malaysia at one point in the western version. [19]

In the United States, since the film was released on September 28, 2001 (about two weeks after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center), Stiller made the executive decision to digitally remove any backgrounds that originally contained the Twin Towers in the background skyline. [20] Stiller defended his decision to erase images of New York's World Trade Center Towers from the film, saying he did what he thought was appropriate at the time. [10] The Twin Towers were later restored for the 2016 Blu-ray release.

Accusations of plagiarism

Glamorama , a 1998 satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis, tells the story of a vacuous male model who becomes involved in a plot concocted by international terrorists who recruit from within the fashion industry. [21] In 2005, Ellis stated that he was aware of the similarities between Zoolander and Glamorama and said that he attempted to take legal action. [22] Ellis was later asked about the similarities in a 2009 BBC interview but said that he is unable to discuss the topic due to an out-of-court settlement. [23]

Reception

Box office

Zoolander earned $15.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking in second place behind Don't Say a Word . [24] It grossed $45.2 million in the U.S. and Canada and $15.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $60.8 million against a budget of $28 million. [3]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 141 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A wacky satire on the fashion industry, Zoolander is one of those deliberately dumb comedies that can deliver genuine laughs." [25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [26] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. [27]

Reviews appreciated Zoolander as an escapist, upbeat satire on New York fashion. [28] [29] BBC film critic Nev Pierce labeled it "sharply observed", specifically with its parody magazine covers and dialogue. [30]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film mostly achieved the difficult goal of being "silly and smart" at the same time. [29] Its humor, however, was generally considered hit-and-miss. [28] [29] Honeycutt wrote it had both predictable "low-grade gags" and "weirdly hip and even witty ones". [28] [29] Pierce thought "the frenetic buffoonery does score several big laughs" but could take time for some viewers to adapt to, such as in the first hour, "where several jokes fail to click and Ferrell's camp villainy simply grates". [30]

Some reviews criticized the incorporation of child labor law themes; [29] Roger Ebert criticized the portrayal as insensitive. [31] McCarthy, while finding the assassin subplot clever, also found it too serious for the comical vibe. [28]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the performances and highlighted its many cameos. [28] He called Stiller's performance "constantly amusing" if overplaying his "look" a little, but stated "the character's intentional superficiality wears a little thin at feature length". [28] The journalist exclaimed Wilson "gets far more comic mileage than one could have imagined possible overlaying ruthless careerism with an affably vacant grunge/Eastern veneer". [28] Pierce wrote how the actors contributed to the film's style; he argued Wilson's "impeccable timing in the climax elevates the sometimes bizarre material to moments that border comedy genius", and the cameos "lends an air of authenticity to the idiocy". [30]

Although praising the production design, costumes, and choice of pop songs, Todd McCarthy felt the film did not have "truly confident visual stylization" to make comic book-esque villains like Mugatu enjoyable, and that long conversations were not fluidly written and edited. [28] He also went after the removal of the Twin Towers as "disruptive" and offending the audience's intelligence. [28]

Roger Ebert added that "to some degree, Zoolander is a victim of bad timing", referencing the film's release two weeks after September 11, 2001 and the presidential assassination plot point which he found to be in bad taste. He found some parts of the film funny and gave it a rating of one star out of four. [31] According to Stiller, years later in private, Ebert admitted that he had changed his mind and now thought that the film was funny, and apologized to him for going "overboard". [32]

The film received votes from two critics at the Sight & Sound's Poll of the greatest films of all time. [33]

Analysis

Fashion journalist Hadley Freeman categorized Zoolander as unique to other mainstream fashion films such as Designing Woman (1957), Funny Face (1957), and The Devil Wears Prada (2006); whereas they usually employ the same critiques of unintelligent models, silly clothing, and insipid business practices, Zoolander is much more surreal in how it puts these cliches together, as shown in its premise of male models being hypnotized to kill a prime minister. [34]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Zoolander was released on September 25, 2001. [35]

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Relax" Frankie Goes to Hollywood 3:57
2."Relax" Powerman 5000 feat. DannyBoy 3:06
3."Call Me" Nikka Costa 4:08
4."Love to Love You Baby" No Doubt 4:22
5."Start the Commotion" The Wiseguys feat. Greg Nice 2:35
6."Now Is The Time" The Crystal Method 5:37
7."I Started a Joke" The Wallflowers 3:09
8."Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" Wham! 3:51
9."Rockit" Herbie Hancock 5:26
10."Beat It (Moby's Sub Mix)" Michael Jackson 6:13
11."Faces" Orgy 4:28
12."Ruffneck" Freestylers feat. Navigator5:43
13."Madskillz-Mic Chekka (Remix)" BT 5:50
14."He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" Rufus Wainwright 4:38
Total length:63:01

The Kruder & Dorfmeister remix of David Holmes' song "Gone" is in the movie when Zoolander is in the day spa, shortly before his brainwashing.

Sequel

In 2008, Stiller said he intended to make a sequel to Zoolander, [36] and by January 2011 a script had been completed. [37] Filming commenced at Cinecittà studios in Rome in early 2015, [38] and on March 10 Stiller and Wilson appeared at the Paris Fashion Week in character as Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald. Zoolander 2 was released on February 12, 2016. [5]

An animated film, Zoolander: Super Model was released on Netflix UK in August 2016. [6]

Legacy

In late 2022, the film went viral on the short-form video hosting service, TikTok. The trend utilized a couple of scenes starring Stiller and Wilson, creating a renewed interest in the movie. [39]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Bowie</span> English musician and actor (1947–2016)

David Robert Jones, known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Stiller</span> American actor and comedian (born 1965)

Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller is an American actor, filmmaker, and comedian. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.6 billion in Canada and the United States, with an average of $79 million per film. Throughout his career, he has received various awards and honors, including an Emmy Award, a Directors Guild of America Award, a Britannia Award and a Teen Choice Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Gallo</span> American film director, writer, model, motorcycle racer, painter, actor and musician

Vincent Gallo is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He has won several accolades, including a Volpi Cup for Best Actor, and has been nominated for numerous more, including the Palme d'Or, the Golden Lion, and the Bronze Horse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iman (model)</span> Somali model and actress

Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid, known mononymously as Iman, is a Somali–American model and actress. A muse of the designers Gianni Versace, Thierry Mugler, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and Yves Saint Laurent, she is also noted for her philanthropic work. She was married to rock musician David Bowie from 1992 until his death in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cameo appearance</span> Brief appearance in performing art

A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo, is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly either appearances in a work in which they hold some special significance or renowned people making uncredited appearances. Short appearances by celebrities, film directors, politicians, athletes or musicians are common. A crew member of the movie or show playing a minor role can be referred to as a cameo role as well, such as director Alfred Hitchcock who made frequent cameo appearances in his films.

<i>Entrapment</i> (film) 1999 film by Jon Amiel

Entrapment is a 1999 caper film directed by Jon Amiel and written by Ronald Bass. It stars Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones and includes Will Patton, Ving Rhames and Maury Chaykin. The film focuses on the relationship between investigator Virginia "Gin" Baker and professional thief Robert "Mac" MacDougal as they attempt a heist at the turn of the New Millennium. Simon West and Antoine Fuqua were both in talks to direct before Amiel was hired. The film was released theatrically in the United States on 30 April 1999 and in the United Kingdom on 2 July 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Wilson</span> American actor (born 1968)

Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor. He has frequently worked with filmmaker Wes Anderson, with whom he has shared writing and acting credits on the films Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)—the latter received a nomination for the Academy Award and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. He has also appeared in Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The French Dispatch (2021). Wilson also starred in the Woody Allen romantic comedy Midnight in Paris (2011) as unsatisfied screenwriter Gil Pender, a role which received a Golden Globe Award nomination. In 2014, he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice and Peter Bogdanovich's She's Funny That Way.

<i>Matilda</i> (1996 film) 1996 fantasy comedy film directed by Danny DeVito

Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy comedy film co-produced and directed by Danny DeVito from a screenplay by Nicholas Kazan and Robin Swicord, based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film stars Mara Wilson as the title character, with DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz, and Pam Ferris in supporting roles. The plot centers on the titular child prodigy who develops psychokinetic abilities and uses them to deal with her disreputable family and the tyrannical principal of her school.

<i>Glamorama</i> 1998 novel by Bret Easton Ellis

Glamorama is a 1998 novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis. Glamorama is set in, and satirizes, the 1990s, specifically celebrity culture and consumerism. Time describes the novel as "a screed against models and celebrity".

<i>Little Black Book</i> (film) 2004 film by Nick Hurran

Little Black Book is a 2004 American satirical comedy-drama film directed by Nick Hurran and starring Brittany Murphy, Holly Hunter, Ron Livingston, Julianne Nicholson, and Kathy Bates. Carly Simon makes a cameo appearance at the end of the film.

Maggie Rizer is an American model and an activist for AIDS-related causes as well as for Operation Smile.

<i>Massacre at Central High</i> 1976 American horror thriller film by Rene Daalder

Massacre at Central High is a 1976 American thriller film directed by Rene Daalder and starring Derrel Maury, Kimberly Beck, Robert Carradine, and Andrew Stevens. The plot follows a series of revenge killings at a fictional American high school, after which the oppressed students take on the role of their bully oppressors. Despite its title, it is not a slasher film but an unusual blend of political allegory, social commentary, and low-budget exploitation; with the exception of the final sequence, no "adult" characters are seen.

Mark Vanderloo is a Dutch model and actor. As a model, he is known for his work with Hugo Boss. As an actor, he is the face of Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect trilogy. Vanderloo is regarded as a supermodel and achieved international success in the 1990s and 2000s.

Drake Sather was an American stand-up comedian, television writer, and producer. His credits include the film Zoolander, and the TV series The Dennis Miller Show, Ed, Gary & Mike, Mr. Ed, The Larry Sanders Show, NewsRadio, Sammy, and Saturday Night Live.

Red Hour Productions is an American film production company operated by actor Ben Stiller and formerly with producer Stuart Cornfeld. In the past, Red Hour has had first-look deals with New Line Cinema, and currently has an exclusive first-look feature deal with 20th Century Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Cornfeld</span> American film producer (1952–2020)

Stuart Cornfeld was an American film producer. He was business partners with Ben Stiller in the company Red Hour Productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion Killa</span> 2013 single by ASAP Rocky

"Fashion Killa" is a song by American hip hop recording artist A$AP Rocky. The song was serviced to urban contemporary radio in the United States in November 2013, as the fourth single from his debut studio album Long. Live. A$AP. The song was produced by both Hector Delgado and Rocky himself under the pseudonym LORD FLACKO and Friendzone as the co-producer.

<i>Zoolander 2</i> 2016 American film

Zoolander 2 is a 2016 American action comedy film co-produced and directed by Ben Stiller who wrote the script alongside Justin Theroux, John Hamburg, and Nicholas Stoller. The sequel to the 2001 film Zoolander, the film stars most of the principal cast members from the previous film reprising their roles such as Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Christine Taylor, Milla Jovovich, Nathan Lee Graham, Theroux, Billy Zane, Tommy Hilfiger, and Jerry Stiller while Alexander Skarsgård and Andy Dick also returned in different roles. New cast members include Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, Cyrus Arnold, Fred Armisen, Kyle Mooney, Jon Daly, Sting, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

<i>Zoolander: Super Model</i> American animated comedy film

Zoolander: Super Model is an American adult animated superhero comedy film directed by Aaron Augenblick and starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Tim Gunn and Nick Kroll. Based on the Zoolander characters created by Ben Stiller and Drake Sather, it was written by John Aboud and Michael Colton. The work was produced in 2011 as a series of short episodes with the intent of releasing it as a web television series, but the episodes were eventually packaged together as a film instead, and was released on Netflix in 2016 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. In May 2020, it was released worldwide on CBS All Access. This was Jerry Stiller's final voice acting role before his death on May 11, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pino Insegno</span> Italian actor, voice actor and television presenter

Giuseppe "Pino" Insegno is an Italian actor, voice actor, and television presenter.

References

  1. "ZOOLANDER (12)". British Board of Film Classification . October 5, 2001. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Zoolander (2001) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  3. 1 2 "Zoolander". Box office Mojo. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  4. Morris, Daniel (March 8, 2023). "Film Talk: Looking Back – Hitting the catwalk with Zoolander". Express & Star. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "'Zoolander 2' Coming February 2016". SlashFilm. March 10, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Hughes, Josiah (November 17, 2016). "Watch the Trailer for the 'Zoolander' Cartoon Movie". Exclaim. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  7. 1 2 Kaplan, Ilana (September 28, 2021). "Zoolander at 20: How a Post-9/11 Flop Became the Comedy Everyone's Still Quoting". Esquire. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023.
  8. Bronte Lord; Logan Whiteside & Alison Kosik. "Meet the model who inspired 'Zoolander'". CNNMoney.[ dead link ]
  9. Foreman, Katya (February 12, 2016). "The male model: How did we get to Zoolander?". BBC Culture.
  10. 1 2 Buss, Andrew (September 30, 2021). ""But Why Male Models?": An Oral History of Zoolander". Vanity Fair . Condé Nast. Archived from the original on September 30, 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Coy, Bronte (September 11, 2017). "16 years on: What you never knew about Zoolander". News.com.au . Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  12. 1 2 Pegg, Nicholas (2016). The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated ed.). London: Titan Books. p. 679. ISBN   978-1-78565-365-0.
  13. "Political Threads". On the Media. February 1, 2008. Archived from the original on February 7, 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2008.
  14. "Zoolander faces Malaysian censorship controversy". TheGuardian.com. September 28, 2001.
  15. "Malaysia shuns Stiller's 'Zoolander'". Associated Press . September 27, 2001. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  16. "Singapore bans US comedy film". BBC News. February 8, 2002.
  17. "Zoolander banned in Singapore". The Globe and Mail. February 9, 2002. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
  18. "Release dates for Zoolander (2001)". IMDb.
  19. "15 things you (probably) didn't know about Zoolander". ShortList. November 14, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  20. "Twin Towers Removed From Zoolander Film". Sun Sentinel. October 30, 2001. Retrieved October 30, 2001.
  21. Hanson, Eric (January 30, 1999). "Ellis dissects the glitterati in 'Glamorama'". Star Tribune . Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  22. "Information Leafblower". Information Leafblower. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
  23. "collective — bret easton ellis interview". BBC. Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2009.
  24. "Three new films lure public back to movies". The Daily Journal. October 1, 2001. p. 7. Archived from the original on July 24, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  25. "Zoolander". Rotten Tomatoes . September 28, 2001. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  26. "Zoolander". Metacritic . September 28, 2001. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  27. McClintock, Pamela (February 12, 2016). "Box Office: Ryan Reynolds' 'Deadpool' Earns Record $47.5M Friday for Massive $130M Debut". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved May 10, 2022.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 McCarthy, Todd (September 27, 2001). "Zoolander". Variety . Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 "'Zoolander': THR's 2001 Review". The Hollywood Reporter . September 28, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  30. 1 2 3 Pierce, Nev (November 12, 2001). "Zoolander (2001)". BBC Online . Archived from the original on November 13, 2001. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  31. 1 2 Roger Ebert (September 28, 2001). "Zoolander". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  32. Christopher Rosen (April 22, 2013). "Roger Ebert 'Zoolander' Review: Ben Stiller Says Late Film Critic Apologized For Scathing Notice". The Huffington Post . Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  33. "Votes for Zoolander (2001) | BFI". Archived from the original on April 1, 2018.
  34. Freeman, Hadley (May 2, 2007). "Zoolander is the finest film about fashion ever". The Guardian . Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  35. "Zoolander 2001 Soundtrack". TheOST.com. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
  36. "Stiller Confirms Zoolander Sequel". WENN . Retrieved March 23, 2021 via IMDb.
  37. James White (January 14, 2011). "Ben Stiller Talks Submarine". Empire. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  38. "Comingsoon.net - Zoolander 2 to Shoot in Rome This Spring!". February 9, 2015.
  39. "What's With The 'Zoolander' Memes And What's The 'Zoolander Song' On TikTok?". msn.com. Retrieved April 28, 2023.