Released in 2001 Zoolander was a film that achieved both great reviews and criticism around its portrayal of the fashion model industry with the main character Derek Zoolander being handsome, always well dressed in a striking outfit or Mens designer shirts like the ones you can find at ejmenswear.com/men/farah but not exactly the brightest of individuals. Critics of the film said it did nothing to help the already fragile view of supermodels. But if you take the film as it was intended as a comedy you actually started to warm to Zoolander and he becomes a loveable character who isn’t ashamed of caring about his appearance.
Here are some interesting facts about the film.
- One of the more adult scenes meant that the film was originally given an R rating. In the film there is a scene of an adult nature and it took Stiller removing some elements and reportedly explaining to the Motion Picture Association of America that the scene was intending to be comical not graphic that it was then finally given a PG- 13 rating.
- When Stiller originally wrote the script, he was inspired by David Bowie’s song ‘Fashion’. He then wrote a part specifically for Bowie of the judge in the ‘walk-off’ without knowing if Bowie would ever actually play the part. Luckily for Stiller, Bowie read the script and loved the films premise and the part that had been created for him and immediately accepted the position.
The film was actually banned from viewing in both Malaysia and Singapore.
Will Ferrell played the incredibly comical part of Mugatu and in order to immerse himself in the role he actually dyed his hair platinum blonde for the part rather than opting to wear a wig. Although he did reportedly have to a wig a couple of times away from the show during interviews because the colour of his hair had become too distracting.
As well as writing the part of judge for David Bowie the part of Hansel was written specifically with Owen Wilson in mind and Stiller reportedly said that if Wilson had not been available to play the part that he was unsure if the film would ever had been made.
Zoolander’s signature ‘Blue Steel’ look was actually based on a similar look that Stiller’s wife noticed that he pulled in the mirror when he was brushing his hair in the mornings. After exaggerating his own look the ‘Blue Steel’ gaze was born.
