Zoolander 2?

Ben Stiller appeared on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on December 10th and during a fairly weak - and awkwardly long - bit spoofing the Lance Amrstrong LIVESTRONG bracelets (how timely!) he morphed; for a brief, wonderful moment; into Derek Zoolander. The bit had Stiller schilling for STILLERSTRONG; which was a yellow handband; and the second he put his on, it was impossible not think of Zoolander. I'm very hit and miss with Ben Stiller. Some of his films I really enjoy, but there's a large chunk of his resumé that defintely leaves me cold. (Yes, I'm looking at you Along Came Polly.) However, the films he's directed in his career are definitely among his best. Stiller helmed Reality Bites as well as the grossly underrated Cable Guy. He was also behind the camera for Zoolander and the excellent Tropic Thunder. I'm a fan of all of those flicks, but with Zoolander, that affection grew slowly. When I first saw the film, I thought it was just decent, but eventually I stumbed upon it on cable, then again during the many airings it enjoyed on TBS, and soon the movie - and Stiller's brilliant performance - had totally won me over.

Moving back to the Tonight Show, it almost felt like Stiller was testing the waters; gauging the pop culture pull the character of Derek Zoolander has. And when he struck the pose and stared down the barrel of the camera flirting with dropping the deveastating Blue Steel gaze on the audience, the crowd erupted. Maybe this little throw away moment on a talk show (Conan, after putting on his headband, also did a Derek Zoolander stare at the camera) is all the studio needed to greenlight the sequel. There's been discussions about a Zoolander follow up for a few years now, and the buzz grew back in May when Stiller revealed that work had been done already on a script for a potential sequel during the junket for Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian.

BEN STILLER TALKS ABOUT 'ZOOLANDER 2'