The first teaser trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Zoolander 2 has premiered, highlighting the notoriously dense intellect of our titular hero, played once again by Ben Stiller (While We’re Young). Written and directed by actor Justin Theroux (HBO’s The Leftovers), the film is set to be released in theaters on February 12th, 2016, nearly fifteen years after the original hit the silver screen.
While the first Zoolander was written and directed by Stiller, the sequel will see Stiller serve behind the scenes in a producing and co-writing role only. Theroux, however, is not unfamiliar with comedic writing, having collaborated with Stiller on the script for 2008’s Tropic Thunder, which Stiller starred and directed. Theroux also contributed to the screenplays for Iron Man 2 and Rock of Ages.
The nearly fifteen year gap between Zoolander 2 and the original film is actually not all that unusual for comedy films. 2004’s Anchorman saw its sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, released nearly ten years later in 2013. The Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary) released Dumb & Dumber in 1994, and while largely ignored prequel – Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd – was released in 2003, the sequel that saw the reunion of the Farrelly brothers with original stars Jim Carrey (Kick-Ass 2) and Jeff Daniels (Looper) was released twenty years later in 2014. Similarly, films like Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000 saw an eighteen year gap between releases, and perhaps most famously, the release of The Odd Couple in 1968 was followed by it’s sequel, The Odd Couple II, thirty years later in 1998.
Zoolander 2 will see the return of Stiller, Owen Wilson (Inherent Vice), Christine Taylor (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story), Will Ferrell (Get Hard), and Billy Zane (The Phantom) along with newcomers Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Kristen Wiig (The Skeleton Twins), and Fred Armisen (Portlandia).
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