Ben Stiller Takes Shot at ‘Zoolander 2’ During Film Screening Appearance
It’s no secret that Ben Stiller isn’t proud of Zoolander 2. The sequel was a guest star-filled mess, and it premiered to horrible reviews from audiences and critics alike. It also completely bombed at the box office. When he spoke about the film’s terrible performance on David Duchovny’s podcast back in 2024, he said the failure of the film “completely blindsided” him.
“It really freaked me out because I was like, ‘I didn’t know it was that bad?’” Stiller said at the time. “What scared me the most on that one was, l’m losing what I think what’s funny, questioning yourself. … On Zoolander 2, it was definitely blindsiding to me. And it definitely affected me for a long time.”
“I thought everybody wanted this,” he continued. “And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really fucked this up. Everybody didn’t go to it. And it’s gotten these horrible reviews.”
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With appearances from half of the then-cast at Saturday Night Live, Benedict Cumberbatch, Penelope Cruz and Will Ferrell, it had the making of a movie that would be “a big deal.” But with a 22 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and reviews calling it “unamusing” and “devoid of practically any creativity,” the movie fell flat on its celebrity-studded face.
It seems like Stiller is at least able to make light of the situation now, nearly a decade later. At a recent anniversary screening of the first Zoolander movie at L.A.’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Stiller made a surprise appearance and addressed the audience.
“Hi. Thank you all for coming,” Stiller told the crowd. “I’d like to thank all of the people at Cinespia for having the courage to have the first-ever nine year anniversary screening of Zoolander 2!”
Everyone laughed at the joke — even next year, there will likely not be any anniversary screenings for Zoolander 2. The film has the great misfortune of being so bad it’s not fun on the rewatch, but not bad enough to merit the kind of cult hate-watches some truly terrible movies get the privilege of.
“What? Zoolander 1? Okay, cool,” Stiller added, to more laughter. “Well, I hope you really enjoy it, and don’t get freaked out by all those creepy gross dead people underneath you. And just relax and have a good time.”
Just promise not to make a Zoolander 3, Ben, and everything will be fine.