Look for a nice trick while you watch the first trailer for the sequel to Ben Stiller’s cult comedy hit Zoolander–Zoolander II or 200lander, if you prefer.  At two minutes we’d normally call the trailer full-length, but you’ll soon see why this is barely a teaser.  We all like Ben Stiller, who seems to compete back and forth in the cinemas with the latest and greatest from Adam Sandler.  Zoolander was certainly one of his stranger, if not the strangest pursuits, he’s provided.

The teaser is a fairly well done Cosmos-esque narration by none other than Stephen Hawking himself.  Right?  Yet this is comedy.  Parody even.  And the teaser clearly reveals at the end that the marketeers used only the same computer platform Hawking uses–DECTalk–to fake the very Hawking-like preview.

Sure, it would be that much funnier if this was really Hawking behind the lambasting of Zoolander.  And you must ask:  At what point should Hawking get some kind of compensation for this unique use of his likeness?  It’s definitely a unique analysis–how often is someone so closely affiliated with a computer voice that it becomes synonymous with the celebrity best known for using it?  The answer is that this is that guy, and that use.

Surely someone could have gotten Hawking involved–and maybe he was and we’ve just not seen this revealed yet.  After all, Hawking had a cameo in a well-known episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  He must have a good attitude and sense of humor about these things.

But enough of that.  Enjoy (or not) this teaser or trailer (or whatever) for Zoolander 2:

Zoolander 2 is scheduled for release in theaters February 12, 2016.  Owen Wilson, Olivia Munn, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz, and Kristen Wiig co-star.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com