Ben Stiller Says He Was ‘Affected’ by Zoolander 2 Responses: ‘I Thought Everybody Wanted This’

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Ben Stiller Says He Was ‘Affected’ by Zoolander 2 Responses: ‘I Thought Everybody Wanted This’

Ben Stiller is opening up about audiences’ reactions to 2016’s Zoolander 2.

Speaking with David Duchovny on Duchovny’s upcoming “Fail Better” podcast, via People, Stiller opened up about the negative reactions that fans and critics had to Zoolander 2.

“I thought everybody wanted this,” Stiller said. “And then it’s like, ‘Wow, I must have really f—ed this up. Everybody didn’t go to it. And it’s gotten these horrible reviews.”

He continued, “It really freaked me out because I was like, ‘I didn’t know was that bad?’ What scared me the most on that one was l’m losing what I think what’s funny, the questioning yourself … on Zoolander 2, it was definitely blindsiding to me. And it definitely affected me for a long time.”

On the bright side, Stiller said that he likely would’ve had to quickly make a third movie or do something in that same vein if Zoolander 2 had been a success. “I had this space to kind of sit with myself and have to deal with it and other projects that I had been working on — not comedies, some of them — I have the time to actually just work on and develop,” Stiller explained.

How much money did Zoolander 2 make?

A sequel to the widely beloved Zoolander movie from 2001, Zoolander 2 was considered a box-office flop, making approximately $56.7 million at the global box office off an estimated $50-55 million budget.

Along with reprising his role as the titular male fashion model, Stiller directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux, Nick Stoller, and John Hamburg. It also starred Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penélope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, and Fred Armisen.

Since Zoolander 2, Stiller has starred in movies such as 2017’s Brad’s Status, 2017’s The Meyerowitz Stories, 2019’s Greed, and 2022’s Bros. He’s also directed several episodes of Apple TV+’s Severance and will soon be seen in Nutcrackers, which is being helmed by David Gordon Green.