Ben Stiller has revealed that the release of Zoolander 2 didn’t sit well with him and made him question whether his take on comedy was still relevant.
Stiller, who has created such great comedies as “Dodgeball” and “Tropic Thunder,” followed up his 2001 hit “Zoolander” with a sequel in 2016.
Stiller predicted that fans would be clamoring for a second film, as the original version featured memes and quotes that kept the film’s specific themes alive for more than a decade.
“I thought everyone wanted this,” Stiller said. “And I’m like, ‘Wow, I must have really messed this up.'” Nobody was on board with it, and it received these terrible reviews. ”
The budget was reported to be $50 million, while the domestic revenue was just $29 million (variety), Mr. Stiller seemed to believe that rekindling old flames was a good idea. All of the film’s original stars returned, including Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Milla Jovovich, Penelope Cruz and Stiller’s father, iconic actor Jerry Stiller, also attended.
Stiller revealed in an interview with actor David Duchovny how much the failure took a toll on him mentally.fail better“Podcast.
“I was really surprised, because I was like, ‘I didn’t know that.'” [it] Stiller continued. “The thing that scared me the most about this movie was losing the ability to question myself about what I thought was funny. It was blinding for me. And it definitely influenced me for a long time. ”
Director Stiller recalled that the film’s poor box office performance affected him so much that he actually stopped making the film, leading to the development of further series.
“The great thing that came out of it for me was that if it was a hit and they said, ‘Make Zoolander 3 now,’ or I got offered another movie, I’d probably jump at it and have room to do it.” “That’s what happened,” he added. “But I had this space where I needed to sit with myself and work on that and other projects that I was working on (not comedy, but some projects) and really just work on it. We had time to develop it.”
This stopped the 58-year-old from diving into a string of other comedy films, which he may have regretted.
“Even if someone said, ‘Well, why don’t you do another comedy or do this?’ There was probably something we should have done, but we just didn’t want to do it.” he explained.
Duchovny, now 63, asked: “Why didn’t you want to do it? Was it anger?”
“It just hurt,” Stiller replied. “Finding myself creatively in terms of who I want to be and what I want to do, I’ve always liked to direct. I’ve always liked to make films. Even as a kid, I didn’t necessarily I always liked the idea in my mind of just directing a movie and not a comedy.” So over the next nine or 10 months, we were able to develop these limited series. ”
“Sequels are hard. What audiences really want is to feel what the first movie made them feel, but again. That greatness, that newness, that love at first sight. And they… They don’t necessarily get it from the sequel — sometimes. They get it from other movies you’ve made.” cody clark he told Blaze News.
“To me, Tropic Thunder is more of a ‘sequel’ to Zoolander than it is to Zoolander 2, because what I loved about Zoolander was that it was this completely different world, completely outside the box. “Tropic Thunder was very intense and had a very unique sense of fun, and “Zoolander 2” just didn’t have that,” he added.
Mr. Stiller has produced or produced five series since 2020, including “La Flamme,” “Severance,” “Le Flambeau: The Chupacabra Adventure,” “In the Dark,” and “High Desert.” I’m helping.
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