By Before he made Tropic Thunder, the last decent film Ben Stiller made was 2001’s fan favorite Zoolander, a film about an air-headed male fashion model. It was nothing special, but it had a lot of fun moments and was easily quotable. Well, it’s time for Derek Zoolander to make a comeback again, as Ben Stiller is reviving the character as part of a two-year deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment. That’s right, Zoolander is making the jump to an animated web series.
As reported by SlashFilm, Stiller will provide the voice for Derek Zoolander, though no other actors are confirmed for their original roles yet. Stiller hopes that Owen Wilson and Will Ferrel will contribute to the project as Hansel and Mugatu, respectively, saying, “You don’t want to have the guy who did the Hanna-Barbera cartoons come and do the voices. No offense to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons — I’m a huge Scooby-Doo fan.” (You heard it here, Ben Stiller hates Hanna-Barbera! Scandal at 11.) With the way the “Frat Pack” actors work, I’m sure Wilson and Ferrel will provide some voice work instead of the crew having to find sound-alikes.
According to Paramount, Stiller is the first A-list actor to be signed by a studio for exclusive web content. Stiller sees this as a way do create small doses of content easily without the usual fights over budgets and control seen in bigger projects. The actor will also star in a live action web series entitled Billy Glimmer: Entertainer of the Century. Directed by Jason Woliner, it is the story of a “mid-level voice impersonator out of Las Vegas.” Sounds like it has plenty of potential to be hammed up.
It hasn’t been decided yet where these shows will be hosted, though Paramount figures it will likely be on the bigger web destinations like Hulu. Is anyone excited to see a return by the man who brought us Blue Steel, or do modern audiences no longer care about men who are really, really good-looking?
Ben Stiller to Produce ‘Zoolander’ Animated Web Series [SlashFilm]