Considered to be one of the funniest comedy movies yet, Zoolander is a 2001 film that was born out of a character that was made for the VH1 Awards and was somehow loved by audiences way too much. Directed by Ben Stiller, Zoolander’s Part 1 was released on September 28th, 2001.
The plot of Zoolander revolves around Derek Zoolander, a not-so-bright model that gets brainwashed into assassinating the Prime Minister of Malaysia. This was an evil plan made by top people in the fashion world, as the new Prime Minister was a great person and was about a pass a law that would abolish child labor, thus harming their business.
They select Jacobim Mugatu and Maury Ballstein as the ones that’ll be carrying out the brainwashing needed for the assassination.
Seeing Derek’s dimwit personality, they make him their target. Derek, however, is going through trials of his own as he’s no longer as famous as he used to be in his prime. His fame has been stolen by Hansel, the new male model that eventually ends up helping Derek escape from the clutches of the bad guys. A second part of Zoolander was released later on, only for it to be considered a flop and end up with negative reviews.
Zoolander is a successful film that managed to collect tons of positive reviews for its humorous and random scenes, coupled with great acting from all of the cast members, especially Ben. The rest of the cast of Zoolander includes Owen Wilson in the role of Hansel, Christine Taylor as Matilda Jones, Will Ferrell plays Jacobim and Jerry Stiller plays Maury Ballstien.
Where Was Zoolander Filmed?
Most of the scenes of Zoolander seem to have been filmed in New York, USA. To make the show as genuine as possible, the fashion award scenes were filmed on the actual VH1 Fashion Award set while breaks were going on.
New York, USA:
The beginning scenes with the VH1 Fashion Awards were filmed at Westin Bonaventure Hotel, located at 404 South Figuera Street, Downtown. This place has been featured in several other films, such as Nick Of Time and True Lies.
Asides from this, the apartment where Derek stays with his model friends is supposed to be located at 80 Greene Street in SoHo. Zoolander’s friends were his pride and used to live together in a single apartment, until their unfortunate death. Their death scene, where the model friends accidentally use a lighter while surrounded by gasoline, is at West Broadway and Varick Street. The prop was built on an empty lot back in 2001, but now a building stands in its place.
West Broadway and Varick Street are also infamously used in the filming of the fire station in Ghostbusters. The Saint Adonis Cemetery from the film never existed and was instead set up in Manhattan.
Ogdensburg, New Jersey, USA:
After seeing his close friends die in the explosion, Derek decides to leave the fashion world and goes back to work with his father and brothers in Coal mines. These mining scenes took place at Sterling Hill Mining Museum located in Ogdensburg, New Jersey. Although he tries to fit in with the others, Derek is soon kicked out of the place by his father as he lacks basic mining skills.
The mine used to be one of the biggest sources of Zinc, but now that it’s been years since it shut down, the place is now a museum sort of location that’s often featured in movies. Films like Bounty (2010), Torture Chamber (2013), and Sold Out (1916) were all filmed in Ogdensburg as well.
Los Angeles, California, USA:
Although the mine at Ogdensburg served as the main filming spot for the mine scenes, the exterior location of the mining scenes was filmed in Los Angeles, California. Asides from this, many other scenes from Zoolander were filmed in LA in a studio, to create the best possible set for the film.
LA has always been a popular movie filming location, with it being the place where hit films and TV shows like Succession, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Titanic were filmed.
At present, Zoolander is available to stream on Prime Video, Hulu, and Paramount Plus.
Also Read: Home Alone 1 Filming Locations: Where was the Classic Movie Filmed?
