Opening tomorrow is director Akiva Schaffer’s (Hot Rod) sci-fi comedy The Watch (previously titled Neighborhood Watch).  The film stars Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller and Richard Ayoade as a group of neighbors who form a local neighborhood watch group and end up stumbling onto an alien plot to destroy the world.  The film also stars Billy Crudup, Will Forte, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Nicholas Braun.  For more on the film, here’s the latest trailer, a red band trailer, an outtake reel, my video interview with Schaffer, and all our previous coverage.

The other day I got to speak with Stiller, Vaughn, Hill and Ayoade.  We talked about the filthy dialogue, what was in the script versus improv, what scene had the most takes, and who broke the most during filming.  In addition, at the end of the interview I got updates on the 21 Jump Street sequel, Zoolander 2, The Internship and The Double.  Hit the jump to watch.

Ben Stiller invaded the zeitgeist like few have with 2001’s Zoolander, and fans have been clamoring to see the dimwitted male model character make his triumphant return ever since.  Movement on the follow-up finally began in 2010, with Tropic Thunder scribe Justin Theroux set to co-write the script and direct.  All seemed well and good until Paramount decided it had budgetary issues with the script, and the project has been in a state of limbo for the past couple of years.

Steve recently got the chance to talk with Stiller at the press day for the sci-fi comedy The Watch, and the actor gave a minor—yet slightly optimistic—update on Zoolander 2.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Ben Stiller is currently doing the press rounds for his latest film Tower Heist, and that bodes well for us because he’s dropped some nuggets of info on some of his more anticipated projects. At the top of the list is the Zoolander sequel that he’s been working on. He wrote the script last year with Tropic Thunder scribe Justin Theroux, and while we knew that the project would pick up years later in Europe with Zoolander and Owen Wilson’s Hansel dealing with the effects of old age, no other plot details were known. Now the actor has teased what the plot of the film will involve, and it’s pretty perfect. Hit the jump to see what he had to say, including updates on a third Night at the Museum and the possibility of a fourth film in the Meet the Parents franchise.

In the new raunchy comedy Your Highness, actor Justin Theroux plays Leezar, the medieval wizard with less than stellar magical prowess. When Leezar kidnaps Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), the fiancée of the Kingdom of Mourne’s crown prince Fabious (James Franco), in order to impregnate her with a dragon, the lazy Thadeous (Danny McBride) must join his brother in an epic quest to save the fair maiden before Leezar can fulfill the ancient prophecy.

At the film’s press day, Justin Theroux talked about going all-out to play the films over-the-top villain, collaborating with director David Gordon Green and actor/screenwriter Danny McBride on the creation of this character, and finding the vulnerability and insecurity in Leezar. He also talked about his own career as a screenwriter and gave an update on the status of Zoolander 2, for which he and Ben Stiller just completed a draft of the script. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

When Ben Stiller spoke about Zoolander 2 last March, he said that the long-awaited sequel would see his Derek (Stiller) and Hansel (Owen Wilson) ten years later and that no one knows who they are anymore.  We also learned that Mugatu (Will Ferrell) would be back as well.  However, Stiller tweeted in May that the film may not happen.  But our hopes were restored in November when Viacom COO Tom Dooley said that Paramount was still planning to make Zoolander 2.

Stiller now tells Empire that he’s completed a script with Iron Man 2 screenwriter Justin Theroux and they’re waiting to see what Paramount wants to do.  Stiller also revealed that the film will take place in Europe and that Mugatu “features in a big way.”  Hopefully this project won’t die in a freak gasoline-fight accident and we’ll see Blue Steel on screens once more.

Viacom COO Tom Dooley has announced a few of the upcoming films that the company (which owns Paramount and Nickelodeon) hopes to produce and release sometime after next September.  During the company’s earning call today, Dooley revealed that Viacom has plans to produce the upcoming sequel to Star Trek, the second G.I. Joe movie, the upcoming Jack Ryan reboot, and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot.

We’ve known that all of these films were in the works and would be made sometime soon, but the biggest news came when Dooley announced that Viacom still thinks that Derek Zoolander is so hot right now: the company will produce the planned Zoolander sequel.  Hit the jump to read what we know about each film.

Jonah Hill is currently doing press rounds for the Dreamworks Animation film Megamind, and he’s updated on a few projects he has coming up. The next project Hill will work on is the 21 Jump Street reboot:

“I won’t do another movie before [21 Jump Street] as of right now… I think we’ll have some cool casting announcements to make very, very soon.”

On a related note, Emma Stone was recently offered the lead role in Jump Street. The film will be directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) from a script by Hill and Josh Applebaum (Alias).  The film looks to start shooting early next year for a March 16, 2012 release date.  For more of what Hill had to say, including his involvement in Zoolander 2 and a planned R-rated CGI animated flick with Superbad writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, hit the jump.

While Justin Theroux has been acting in movie and TV shows for the last fifteen years, he’s recently started a new career in Hollywood: screenwriting.  Due to being one of the screenwriters on Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder, Theroux met Robert Downey Jr., and since they got along so well, Downey pitched Theroux to Marvel for Iron Man 2.  Cut to a few meetings later and he’s writing one of the most anticipated sequels of the last decade.

With Iron Man 2 set to debut in North America this Friday (it’s debuted overseas last weekend and raked in over $100 million), I recently spoke with Theroux about not only the highly-anticipated superhero film, but his other projects, which include Zoolander 2, Space Invaders, Chief Ron, and Your Highness (although he’s only acting in this one).  I also asked if he or anyone else was working on Iron Man 3.

Trust me, if you want to know how Iron Man 2 was made and what’s up with the other films I just mentioned, you want to hit the jump:

During the last couple of days we’ve reported some heartbreaking news to comedy fans.  First, there was the news that the sequel to Anchorman was apparently dead after Paramount had passed on the project due to some budget issues .  Then, a few days later, came news via Ben Stiller’s twitter that Zoolander 2 was having some problems getting a green light over at Paramount due to some funding issues too.

However, Deadline reports that now turns out that both projects might still have some life to them after all.  To find out why Paramount is hesitant about making both films and why there is still some hope that we might see the further adventures of Ron Burgundy and Derek Zoolander on the big screen soon hit the jump.

It looks like Derek Zoolander is so not hot right now.  Even though Ben Stiller is ready to make the sequel happen, the green light (and paper) needs to come from the suits at Paramount.  Similar to our report on the fate of our favorite chauvinistic anchorman, studio financing is not looking too good for the male model.

A recent update from Ben Stiller’s twitter (via DarkHorizons) revealed that the potential size of the budget seems to be the reason we might not be getting to see Derek challenge Hansel to another walk-off: “Ron Burgundy and Derek Zoolander looking to appear in sequels. Both men destitute, without means or intellect to fund their own comebacks.”

We all know how Hollywood works by now. This doesn’t mean the project is necessarily dead. Let’s hope that this is just a minor speed bump on the catwalk to Zoolander 2.

Last week we posted the amazing news that Ben Stiller was moving ahead with a sequel to Zoolander and Justin Theorux was set to co-write and direct the project with Jonah Hill playing the villain.

So when I sat down with Stiller at this weekend’s junket for Greenberg in New York City, I made sure to ask him if the report was accurate.  I also asked if Will Ferrell’s Mugato would be returning.  Thankfully, he said they really are working on a script and he beleives the project is going to happen.

And if you’d like to know how Mugato will be used in the film…you’ll have to watch the interview after the jump:

After a nine year hiatus, Zoolander 2 is going into pre-production with Justin Theorux set to direct and co-write the film. Deadline reports that the script is being handled by Theroux and Ben Stiller, who not only played the title character, but co-wrote and directed the first film. Theroux has worked with Stiller before on Tropic Thunder and is also the writer for this summer’s Iron Man 2. Theroux has announced he plans on attending fashion week in Paris to “immerse himself on what is current in fashion”. Currently Owen Wilson is not attached to reprise his role as Hansel but there are negotiations to have Jonah Hill play the villain.

Hit the jump for details on how Zoolander became a cult hit and for past rumors about this long-awaited sequel.