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The plot of Zoolander (2001) is set in motion by a combination of a high-stakes political conspiracy and the sudden, humiliating downfall of supermodel Derek Zoolander’s career. These two threads converge when the fashion industry’s "secret syndicate" decides Derek is the perfect pawn for an assassination.
The specific actions that start the plot include:
The film opens with a meeting of the world’s top fashion designers (the "fashion syndicate"). They are panicked because the newly elected, progressive Prime Minister of Malaysia has announced plans to raise the minimum wage and abolish child labor. Since the fashion industry relies on cheap sweatshop labor in Malaysia, they decide the Prime Minister must be assassinated before he can implement these reforms.
Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) is charged by the syndicate with finding a male model who is "dim-witted" enough to be brainwashed into performing the hit.
While the conspiracy is forming, Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) experiences a series of professional and personal disasters:
Following his loss, Derek's three roommates and fellow male models attempt to cheer him up with a car ride and "Orange Mocha Frappuccinos." While stopping for gas, they begin a playful "gasoline fight," spraying each other with fuel. One of the models lights a cigarette, causing a massive explosion that kills all three. This tragedy leaves Derek questioning his purpose and seeking a "higher calling."
Derek attempts to leave modeling and return to his roots in southern New Jersey to work in the coal mines with his father (Jon Voight) and brothers. However, his family is embarrassed by his career and rejects him, telling him he is not a "real" man. Feeling he has nowhere else to go, Derek announces his retirement from modeling.
Seeing Derek at his lowest point and most vulnerable, Mugatu suddenly offers him the lead in his prestigious new fashion line, "Derelicte." Despite Mugatu having never worked with him before, Derek is so desperate for validation that he accepts. This "invitation" is actually a trap: Mugatu takes Derek to a "day spa" that is secretly a brainwashing facility, where Derek is conditioned to assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia when he hears the "trigger" song: "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
The summary omits that Derek's own agent, Maury Ballstein, is part of the conspiracy and secretly agrees to hand Derek over to Mugatu. This is a key plot point explaining why Derek is so easily manipulated into the scheme.
The plot of Zoolander (2001) is initiated by a conspiracy within the fashion industry to assassinate the new Prime Minister of Malaysia, who plans to end child labor and raise minimum wages (threatening the industry's profit margins). The fashion syndicate charges designer Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell) with finding a dim-witted model to brainwash for the task. Simultaneously, Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller) faces a career crisis after losing the "Male Model of the Year" award to Hansel (Owen Wilson), suffering a PR blow from a Time magazine article by Matilda Jeffries, and losing his three roommates in a "freak gasoline-fight accident." Rejected by his father after a failed attempt to work in the coal mines, a vulnerable Derek is recruited by Mugatu for the "Derelicte" campaign. His agent, Maury Ballstein, is complicit in handing him over. Derek is then brainwashed at a day spa to kill the Prime Minister when triggered by the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood.