Lifestyle Magazine

People are still talking about Derek Zoolander's
Blue Steel look after 15 years?
Yeah well, when the first movie came out, nobody
really wanted to see it so it has been interesting
over the years that it has a life. The look seemed
to have endured.
Did you feel the fashion world has changed in
the last 15 years? Has it got even sillier?
Well, I'm not really a fashionista type of person so
I don't stay on top of it all! But it moves so quickly
and obviously they always have to be topping
themselves and part of what the fashion world
is about is the drama of it and taking yourself
seriously and say this is what we think is beautiful
and this is what we think is cool. They have to do
that month after month, they have to recreate
and start from scratch so that’s why it gets so
crazy because they are looking at what's gonna
get the attention next, something that stands
out. It always been hard to outdo that because it's
already so crazy, we try mostly to acknowledge
where fashion is today in terms, which I think is
much bigger in consciousness because of social
media and the way people connect with it. And
Instagram which is such a big part of fashion
world in terms of how ideas get communicated
and images are out there. For the fashion world,
that has become a thing, it's so much more about
social media so it’s definitely out there throughout
the world in people's mind.
What have been Anna Wintour's involvement?
She just really loved the first movie and when I
told her what I was doing in the next one she was
like, "Please let me help any way possible."
Was she instrumental in getting Valentino?
She was instrumental to a lot of aspects of the
movie as only she could be, yeah. I've met Mr.
Valentino a few times over the years. And really
for me after seeing the documentary, Valentino:
The Last Emperor about him 7 years ago, that was
one of the reasons I wanted to set the movie in
Rome because it was a great movie and it felt like
there was a complement in Italian movies and the
fashion world, giving the movie an all different
feeling that was really connected to that.
And Anna has been really helpful, first of all just
her saying, "Hey, I like this!" really opened up the
door for us in so many ways to the rest of the
fashion world.
And now you have celebrities falling over
themselves to be a part of this. Justin Bieber
was hilarious in the trailer.
Yeah and Benedict Cumberbatch is great, he was
so game and so excited. I felt really fortunate that
people who were fans of the first movie wanted
to come on board and be a part of it. There is
definitely a few surprises in there. It's always
that thing with the trailer, how much you put
out there, you know. For me, I wish everything
could be a surprise you know but you also want
people to come to the movie and see what it is. I
think we saved a few good ones, some just really
funny, sort of odd ones too. There's a bunch of
people from the fashion world in the movie too
and people you'd think wouldn't be in the movie
are in there...
Did you think beforehand about the talent
who should appear in it?
It always comes down to the people you can get,
the reality of what you can get but it was always
about getting people we felt would feel the
right kind of cameo as opposed to just getting
someone famous. It's a weird thing you can't
really define but sometimes you think that person
would be great to get like President Clinton but
doesn't that feel like 'Zoolander' I don't know, we
just couldn't get him but you know, you have to
think who could exist in this universe. 9