Ben Stiller Calls “Zoolander 2” Failure 'Blindsiding': 'It Affected Me for a Long Time' (Exclusive)

The actor/director opened up with David Duchovny for Duchonvy's new podcast 'Fail Better,' which explores personal and professional failures and their impact

Ben Stiller says the commercial and critical failure of Zoolander 2 was life-altering.

The 58-year-old, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in the 2016 sequel, reflected on the experience with David Duchovny on Duchovny's upcoming podcast, Fail Better.

"I thought everybody wanted this," Stiller said of the follow-up to the 2001 comedy, which was a box office success and widely quoted and memed. "And then it's like, 'Wow, I must have really f---ed this up. Everybody didn't go to it. And it's gotten these horrible reviews."

According to Variety, Zoolander 2 only made $29 million domestically against a $50 million budget. The sequel starred fan favorites from the first film, including Stiller, Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell. It also included cameos from popular celebrities including Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.

"It really freaked me out because I was like, 'I didn't know was that bad?' '' Stiller continued. "What scared me the most on that one was l'm losing what I think what's funny, the questioning yourself ... on Zoolander 2, it was definitely blindsiding to me. And it definitely affected me for a long time."

Related: Christine Taylor Jokes She Was 'Fourth Choice and Cheap' to Star with Ben Stiller in 'Zoolander'

But Stiller says what followed was a period of introspection, which ultimately fueled new projects.

"The wonderful thing that came out of that for me was just having space where, if that had been a hit, and they said 'Make Zoolander 3 right now,' or offered some other movie, I would have just probably jumped in and done that," he recalled. "But I had this space to kind of sit with myself and have to deal with it and other projects that I had been working on — not comedies, some of them — I have the time to actually just work on and develop."

"Even if somebody said, 'Well, why don't you go do another comedy or do this?' I probably could have figured out something to do. But I just didn't want to," Stiller added.

"Why didn't you want to?" Duchovny, 63, asked in response. "Was it anger?"

"It was just hurt," Stiller replied. "Finding yourself in terms of what creatively you want to be and do, I I always loved directing. I always loved making movies. I always, in my mind, loved the idea of just directing movies that since I was a kid, and not necessarily comedies. And so, over the course of like the next like, nine or 10 months, I was able to develop these limited series."

Eventually, Stiller moved on to direct the crime drama Escape at Dannemora in 2018, for which he won a DGA Award for Outstanding Directing – Miniseries or TV Film. He also was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. In 2022, he produced and directed the Emmy-nominated series Severance.

Duchovny and Stiller's friendship began when Duchovny appeared in Zoolander. Duchovny invited Stiller to be the first guest on his podcast Fail Better, which premieres May 7. Per the description, Fail Better will explore the topic of failure "in all its forms, from the professional to the personal, and the ways in which failure, shame and falling short shaped his and all our lives."

Related: Owen Wilson Breaks Down His Favorite Memories of Making ‘Zoolander’ and More (Exclusive)

The podcast is the production of Lemonada Media and will feature guests including Sean Penn, Kumail Nanjiani, Fred Armisen, Bette Midler, Sarah Silverman and more.

“We have had such a great and at times life-changing experience making this podcast with David — his openness to learning and the quest to understand human nature is something he brings to each conversation. We are so excited to bring this show into the world,” Lemonada CEO Jessica Cordova Kramer shared. Duchonvy will also share his own personal anecdotes throughout the series.

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Listen to the audio trailer for Fail Better here and tune into episodes 1 (where Stiller details his other major career failure) and 2 on May 7.

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