04 February 2016
Newsdesk
Ben Stiller always pulls a Blue Steel pout in photos, even when he's not meant to.
The US actor made the look famous after playing dim model Derek Zoolander in 2001 movie Zoolander, and the pout has now become his trademark. With the release of Zoolander 2 just over a week away, Ben has been busy promoting the film. This has included posing as Derek, but the stylish stare has spilled over into real life too.
“In the last year of working on the movie, every time someone wants to take a picture, I’m almost trained now to do the Blue Steel thing,” Ben smiled to Britain's Esquire. “Even when I think I’m not doing it, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re doing Blue Steel!’ ‘No, I’m not.’ And I look at the picture and go, ‘Oh my God, I am.’”
When Ben and co-star Owen Wilson strutted their stuff at the Valentino show at Paris Fashion Week in March (15) to announce Zoolander 2, the stunt went viral with social media going into meltdown. However away from being Derek, Ben isn't that prolific online.
"I’m in that generation that are kind of aware of it and can play with it a little bit, but it’s not naturally my thing,” he admitted.
“I’m never going to be that person who feels comfortable Instagramming selfies going to Starbucks or whatever, but for this movie in particular, it felt very organic. Because that’s what Derek is about, Derek should be taking selfies of himself and putting them out there.”
Ben's hopeful the second instalment of Zoolander will be a success, despite the first movie faring badly at the box office. It became a cult classic after being released on DVD, but it's poor cinema takings meant a second film nearly didn't happen.
"With studios, when the accountants recommend making a sequel they often point to the first one and say, ‘How much did the first one make?’" he explained. "And it really did die at the box office, the first one.”
