Willie Nelson, Justin Bieber Join Cast of ‘Zoolander 2’
The Red Headed Stranger is getting ready to do his best Blue Steel.
Willie Nelson is set to make a cameo in the sequel to Ben Stiller’s 2001 cult classic, Zoolander. The 82-year-old legend revealed in an interview with Access Hollywood that Owen Wilson, who plays dimwitted male model Hansel McDonald in the two movies, personally invited him to film a scene on location in Italy. The actor and country star are longtime friends and neighbors in Maui, Hawaii, where they hang out playing chess, poker and dominoes in Nelson’s clubhouse.
“He’s definitely the Number One dominoes player,” Wilson told Rolling Stone last summer of the musician, going on to explain that the only time he’s ever seen Nelson angry was when he asked him why the spare dominoes go on the right side of the table. (“Because that’s the goddamn rule!” the normally serene Nelson reportedly screamed in response.)
Zoolander 2 will hit theaters February 12th, 2016. In addition to Stiller and Wilson, Will Ferrell and Billy Zane will reprise their roles from the first film. Additional actors in the cast include Kristen Wiig, Olivia Munn, Fred Armisen and Penelope Cruz, with Justin Bieber also taking a shot at the big screen runway. It’s not clear whether the pop prince will play a character or himself, but paparazzi photos from the Rome set show him trying to escape a large cage in one of the movie’s scenes. Nelson’s reps confirm with Rolling Stone Country that the country icon will play himself.
The slapstick comedy is one in a long list of acting roles on the Texas native’s résumé. Nelson’s first feature film was 1979’s The Electric Horseman, which was followed by roles in movies including Honeysuckle Rose, Barbarosa, Red Headed Stranger, Wag the Dog and The Dukes of Hazzard. He’ll also star in the upcoming Waiting for the Miracle to Come, a fantasy adventure flick filmed at his own Luck, Texas ranch. U2 lead singer Bono is one of the six executive producers of that film, which is tentatively set to be released later this year.