According to the lead actor and director of Zoolander, Jake Gyllenhaal also gave auditions for the role of Hansel. He also told that Owen Wilson was always his first choice for the role of Hansel. However, as he was busy with another project, he was about to finalize Jake Gyllenhaal. It is surprising as we can not imagine any other actor in place of him as he did stupendous work.
Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for ‘Zoolander’
Ben Stiller revealed to the press during an interview with Esquire Magazine on the 20th anniversary of Zoolander that he always chose Owen for the role of Hansel. But, during those days, Owen was very busy shooting another project. Therefore, they had to arrange auditions.
Stiller said that he almost chose the charming young actor Jake Gyllenhaal for the role. He said, “The only one that I remember clearly was a young Jake Gyllenhaal doing this wide-eyed version of Hansel that was really funny.” He also mentioned Andy Dick who was going to play the role of Mugatu but he was also busy shooting another project. Then, Stiller added, “Now it’s impossible for me to picture anybody but Will doing it.” He said Andy was his first choice but Will got the role and did complete justice to it.
In auditions, it was none other than Jake Gyllenhaal who managed to win the makers’ hearts through his acting. He left an amazing impression on the judges of the audition panel. Stiller was laughing when he was remembering Jake’s auditions. However, it seems interesting to imagine Andy and Jake performing against Stiller as Mugatu and Hansel. For now, Jake is busy with the promotions of his upcoming thriller movie- The Guilty which is coming in October on Netflix
More about ‘Zoolander’
Zoolander is an action-comedy movie of 2001. The plot revolves around Derek Zoolander whose role was played by Ben Stiller himself. According to the plot, the cunning fashion designer- Jacobim Mugatu(Will Ferrel) and Maury Bellstein(Jerry Stiller) hired Derek for a fake programme. Through this campaign, they had another plan that was to assassinate the Malaysian Prime Minister.
On knowing this plan, Derek seeks help from Hansel(Owen) and journalist Matilda Jeffries (Christine Taylor) to prevent them from killing the Prime Minister. The film was a blockbuster and got pretty good feedback. Zoolander 2 was its sequel released in 2016 but it didn’t get a positive response from the people.