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 bilateral sensitivities and the movie's depiction of using the drug peyote. It was subsequently made available in Singapore in 2006,^[17] 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.

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.^[18]

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.^[19] 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.^[20] In 2005, Ellis stated that he was aware of the similarities between Zoolander and Glamorama and said that he attempted to take legal action.^[21] 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.^[22]

Box office

Zoolander earned $15.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking in second place behind Don't Say a Word.^[23] 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."^[24] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.^[26]

Reviews appreciated Zoolander as an escapist, upbeat satire on New York fashion.^[27][28] BBC film critic Nev Pierce labeled it "sharply observed", specifically with its parody magazine covers and dialogue.^[29]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter felt the film mostly achieved the difficult goal of being "silly and smart" at the same time.^[28] Its humor, however, was generally considered hit-and-miss.^[27][28] Honeycutt wrote it had both predictable "low-grade gags" and "weirdly hip and even witty ones".^[27][28] 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".^[29]

Some reviews criticized the incorporation of child labor law themes;^[28] Roger Ebert criticized the portrayal as insensitive.^[30] McCarthy, while finding the assassin subplot clever, also found it too serious for the comical vibe.^[27]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the performances and highlighted its many cameos.^[27] 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".^[27] 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".^[27] 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".^[29]

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.^[27] He also went after the removal of the Twin Towers as "disruptive" and offending the audience's intelligence.^[27]

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.^[30] 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".^[31]

The film received votes from two critics at the Sight & Sound's Poll of the greatest films of all time.^[32]