Derek Zoolander and Owen Wilson’s irreverent male model Hansel have been off the scene for an awful long time – almost 15 years, to be exact – though the bumbling duo are currently working on their best poses ahead of a triumphant return to the catwalk next month. What can we expect? Well, according to screenwriter Nicholas Stoller, Zoolander 2 will be packed to the brim with wonderful weirdness.
Due to open opposite Deadpool in North America, February 12 won’t exactly be lacking in the wonderful weirdness department – but we digress. Returning to the helm after a decade and a half is Ben Stiller, who also has a hand in the script with Stoller. While speaking to /Film, here’s what the latter had to say about the sequel’s general tone.
“It’s so weird in the best way possible,” Stoller said. “So much weirder, but not esoteric, just awesome and weird the way the first one was weird. That’s why people love it. They were created on and off literally over a decade. Between Stiller, it’s obviously his movie and he’s the visionary behind it, me and then Justin Theroux and John Hamberg, we all came in at different times.”
Weird in the best possible way is perhaps the only way to surmise the cult hit when it released in 2001. Zoolander was anything but a financial juggernaut when it first debuted, though strong DVD sales helped keep the flame burning and characters (somewhat) relevant after all these years. And though Stoller admitted that Derek and Hansel’s return will take some explaining, he notes that Zoolander 2 won’t spend too much time dwelling on what’s come before.
“You do have to kind of explain it,” Stoller said. “I think those characters are so well loved that there’s not that much explaining in the movie as to who they are, just because I think that’s a movie that’s lasted forever on DVD and on TV.”
With quite the ensemble cast in tow – one which comprises Billy Zane, Fred Armisen, Justin Bieber, Kyle Mooney, Kim Kardashian, Ariana Grande, and many more set to appear. As for the core cast, we know that Penélope Cruz, Christine Taylor, Kristen Wiig and Cyrus Arnold – Zoolander 2 will dance merrily into theaters on February 12.
