Blue Steel Set to Return: Script for 'Zoolander 2' Completed

It's been a long and rocky road for Zoolander 2. We reported about the troubled sequel over the summer, which Paramount initially rejected, but Ben Stiller went to Twitter to reassure fans was still in the works. Paramount also reportedly passed on Anchorman 2 at the same time and word was that the studio was unhappy with the initial script for Zoolander 2, based on their mysterious arithmetic models that can supposedly determine what movies will be a financial hit. (Which is admittedly better than the old studio method, which involved monkeys and a dart board.)

MTV recently caught up with Justin Theroux, who is co-writing the screenplay with Ben Stiller and will reportedly also direct. Theroux said the script is basically finished and the plan is to have the film in theaters in 2012.

"The script is in good shape right now," he said. "I'm feeling very optimistic about it. We're doing a few little tweaks before we submit it, but I'm very hopeful that I'm going to be working on that soon."

As for the plot of the film, Theroux was vague, but he added this:

"It's too funny - it'll blow your mind. We start off with them in a pretty bad place. [Derek and Hansel] are about to ring 40's bell. They have to claw their way back into the fashion industry in some way or another."

That matches with what Stiller told MTV back in March. He said at the time:

"The beginning of the movie is set 10 years later, and Derek and Hansel are literally forgotten. Nobody even knows who they are, so they have to re-invent themselves."

According to Theroux, Will Ferrell will be back as the nefarious Mugatu and Jonah Hill will join the cast as a new villain.

I will admit that I actually enjoyed the original Zoolander far more than I expected to. It's a surprisingly funny and rewatchable film. That being said, I don't have high hopes for Zoolander 2. Comedy sequels almost never work, mostly because they simply end up retreading the same jokes from the first film. It's like the sophomore slump most bands encounter - you have to find a way to be new and exciting without straying too far from what worked the first time around.

Perhaps you are all more optimistic than me, but you don't need to look any farther than Stiller's next film - Little Fockers - to see how dramatically these franchises can go downhill.

Comments

[zoop]

The second to last paragraph was completely unnecessary.