Ben Stiller on His Paris Fashion Week Debut: "That Was Kind of Intimidating. You Don't Want to Trip."
Two weeks ago, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson strutted their stuff as top male models Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald at the Paris Fashion Week show of Maison Valentino Tuesday at the Jardin des Tuileries to officially announce the sequel to their 2001 hit comedy, Zoolander. Staying in their characters, the duo, dressed to impress in printed suits with matching coats over their shoulders, took over the runway.
Looking back at the experience, Stiller told E!Online: "It was kind of surreal. It was sort of exciting. I mean, we've never done anything like that before, to be in an actual fashion show. That was kind of intimidating. You don't want to trip. You want to get to the end. It's like Green Mile. It's really like that. There's no electric chair at the end. There's just starving models waiting for you, but it's definitely an intense experience."
According to Paramount, Zoolander 2 will be ready for release on February 12, 2016. Justin Theroux who co-wrote the screenplay with Stiller will be directing the sequel. Will Ferrell will be back to reprise his role as the fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu, as will Stiller's real-life wife Christine Taylor who will once more portray Zoolander's love interest Matilda Jeffries. Penelope Cruz is also already attached to play a still undisclosed role in the project. Jonah Hill and Cara Delevingne, as well as Kanye West, are all rumored to also be part of the Zoolander 2 cast. Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld are producing the project for their Red Hour banner.
Not much is known about the upcoming sequel's storyline other than the studio's teaser saying that "Derek and Hansel are modeling again when an opposing company attempts to take them out from the business." Of course, back in 2010, in an interview with MTV about the plans for Zoolander 2, Stiller said: "In the fashion world, if you go away for a year, it's changed - it just happens so quickly. I think the idea in the beginning of the movie is that it's 10 years later, and Derek and Hansel are literally forgotten. Nobody remembers who they are, so they have to reinvent themselves." Before the ending of the original Zoolander film, Derek, Hansel, and Maury were shown as having left the fashion industry to start "The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too." Derek and Matilda were also shown as now having a son they named Derek Zoolander, Jr., who then has already developed his first modeling look.