- published: 18 Nov 2015
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Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the movie feature a dimwitted male model named Derek Zoolander (a play on the name of Dutch model Mark Vanderloo), played by Stiller. The film involves Zoolander becoming a pawn in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia by corrupt fashion executives.
The dim-witted but good-natured Derek Elijah Zoolander (Ben Stiller) is ousted as the top male fashion model by the rising star, Hansel (Owen Wilson), and his reputation is further tarnished by a critical article from journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor). After his three flatmates and colleagues are killed in a "freak gasoline-fight accident", Derek announces his retirement from modeling and attempts to reconnect with his father Larry (Jon Voight) and brothers by helping in the coal mines. Derek's delicate methods make him an impractical miner, and his family rejects him.
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums,Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, Marmaduke, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon, Behind Enemy Lines, and Drillbit Taylor.
Wilson was born in Dallas, to photographer Laura Cunningham Wilson and Robert Andrew Wilson, an advertising executive and operator of a public television station. He has an older brother, Andrew, and a younger brother, Luke. Both brothers were also involved in filmmaking. His family, originally from Massachusetts, is Irish American and Catholic. Wilson attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English.
Wilson debuted as an actor in the role of "Dignan" in the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket, which he co-wrote with Anderson. He also worked with Anderson as a creative collaborator on his next two directorial efforts, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which they were nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.