Zoolander (2001) on Netflix
Three-time male model of the year Derek Zoolander loses the VH1 trophy to newcomer Hansel and is branded an idiot in Time. Fashion mogul Mugatu recruits him for a runway show.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.5/10320,756 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes65%
Trailer
Plot summary
Derek Zoolander has held the title of top male model for three years, known for his signature look, Blue Steel. At the VH1 Fashion Awards the trophy goes to Hansel, a newcomer, and a Time magazine article by Matilda Jeffries calls Derek an idiot. He retires and tries to reconnect with his relatives in New Jersey, who reject him. Malaysia's new prime minister has promised to raise the minimum wage, which would end the fashion industry's supply of cheap labor. A covert group of designers charges the couturier Mugatu and Derek's agent Maury Ballstein with finding a male model to brainwash into killing the prime minister. Mugatu hires Derek to headline his next runway show.
Cast
- Alexandre Manningas Brint (as Alexander Manning)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Zoolander (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The name Derek Zoolander was coined by Russell Bates while he was cutting the first VH1 short, welding together the surnames of two male models who both worked for Calvin Klein, Mark Vanderloo and Johnny Zander.
- Andy Dick was lined up to play the villain Mugatu but was tied up by the TV show Go Fish, so the part went elsewhere. Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for Hansel, and Ben Stiller cast his father Jerry Stiller as agent Maury because he was already starring and directing.
- The awards ceremony that opens the film is a real one. Stiller's crew shot those scenes at the actual 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, grabbing them during the commercial breaks.
- In the cemetery scene Ben Stiller forgot the line he was meant to say, so he simply asked David Duchovny's J.P. Prewett "But why male models?" again. Duchovny stayed in character and answered that he had just told him a moment ago, and the take stayed in.
SPOILER
The comedy was first meant to finish with Derek Zoolander being fatally struck by a train and ascending to heaven. The producers dropped the idea because they feared it could not be fitted into the film's original budget.- Malaysia never showed the film, its censorship board calling the plot to assassinate the Malaysian prime minister definitely unsuitable, and Singapore banned it too over controversial elements before allowing it in 2006 with an NC-16 rating.
- Opening two weeks after the September 11 attacks, the film reached cinemas with the World Trade Center digitally erased from every background shot. Ben Stiller made that call himself and said he did what he thought was appropriate at the time; the towers were put back for the 2016 Blu-ray.
- Bret Easton Ellis saw his 1998 novel Glamorama, about a vacuous male model pulled into a terrorist plot run through the fashion industry, in the film. He said in 2005 that he had tried to take legal action, and by 2009 could not discuss it because of an out-of-court settlement.
