Ben Stiller reflects on ‘Zoolander 2' failure and career trajectory thereafter

Ben Stiller got candid about his 2016 flop, Zoolander 2, while reflecting on life after getting blindsided.

Ben, who appeared and directed the 2016 sequel of the original hit Zoolander, was not aware of how the second movie would go down in history and its toll on him.

However, long after the movie’s failure, the 58-year-old clinched his first Directors Guild of America award.

Now, speaking in the upcoming David Duchovny’s Lemonada podcast Fail Better, Ben is reflecting on the major hit he took back then and how it was a blessing in disguise.

“I thought everybody wanted this. And then it's like, "Wow, I must have really f***** this up”, he said, according to People.

“Everybody didn't go to it. And it's gotten these horrible reviews”, he added admitting that the failure “really freaked [him] out”.

Confessing that he later began questioning himself if he had lost his grip on comedies, he dubbed the disaster as ‘blindsiding’.

Despite the major blow, the Frat Pack member took the opportunity to steer in a different direction which led to a major win.

“I had this space to kind of sit with myself and have to deal with it and other projects that I had been working on”, he explained.

“And so, over the course of like the next like, nine or 10 months, I was able to develop these limited series”, the father of two continued referring to shows including the blockbuster Escape From Dannemora, which earned him a DGA Award and an Emmy nomination.