"Zoolander 2" will be out on theaters soon and its new official trailer has recorded 52.5 million views in the first week of release. According to Deadline, this is a record traffic for a comedy film, the highest ever, beating "Dumb and Dumber To," "22 Jump Street" and "Trainwreck."
"Zoolander 2" is a sequel to the comedy film released in 2001. This time, Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) and Hansel McDonald (Owen Wilson) were hired by the Interpol to investigate a conspiracy to kill the most beautiful people in the world, including Justin Bieber. Victims all died wearing Zoolander's signature look: Blue Steel.
Ben Stiller directed the film and produced it with Stuart Cornfield, Scott Rudin and Clayton Townsend. Stiller also wrote the script along with Justin Theroux, Nicholas Stoller and John Hamburg. It stars Olivia Munn, Benedict Cumberbatch and Penelope Cruz, alongside Stiller and Wilson.
Meanwhile, the sequel which took around 15 years to happen, has been surrounded by controversies, particularly from the LGBT community. An online petition, which has already gathered 12,000 signatures, is asking to boycott "Zoolander 2" because of an "offensive" portrayal of Cumberbatch as a transgender supermodel named All.
In the trailer, Derek asks All if she likes a male model or a female model, to which the model replies "All is all." And then Hansel says, "I think he's asking if you have a hot dog or a bun." Cumberbatch's character gasps, giggles and says, "oops."
Activists call the character as "transphobic" and the petitioners wrote: "Cumberbatch's character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals. This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority."
Many say that they should have let a real transgender play the role. Jennie Kermode, chair of Trans Media Watch, said, "Not only is it very difficult for non-binary actors to find work, but there is still very limited public understanding of non-binary people. Given the hostility many encounter in their day-to-day lives, we feel it's particularly important for producers to think carefully about representation."
"Zoolander 2" opens in cinemas on Feb. 12, 2016.
Watch the trailer below:
