Zoolander is a 2001 American action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller and starring Stiller and Owen Wilson. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the film itself feature a dimwitted male model named Derek Zoolander (a play on the names of Dutch model Mark Vanderloo and American model Johnny Zander), played by Stiller.