The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
“Is there some reason that my coffee isn’t here? Has she died or something?” – Miranda Priestly.
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Directed by: David Frankel
Written by: Aline Brosh McKenna (screenplay), Lauren Weisberger (novel)
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, Simon Baker, Adrian Grenier
Now fifteen years on, The Devil Wears Prada has to be considered a comedy classic. Making a staggering $327 million off a $35 million budget, the adaption of Lauren Weisberger’s bestselling novel of the same name was a huge hit. I actually felt a little guilty rewatching this because I’d forgotten just how funny it was, with a smattering of iconic one-liners throughout the film. It’s not Anchorman or Mean Girls, but it’s close. There’s also a case that Meryl Streep should have won the Oscar for her incredible performance as Miranda Priestly (for what it’s worth, she was nominated). With a small but talented cast, and some interesting production and casting nuggets, this should be a fun one to unpack.
The film follows fresh-eyed and aspiring journalist Andy Sachs (Hathaway). Unable to land a job in publishing, she eventually lands the job that ‘millions of girls would kill for’ – working as a personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Streep), the editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine. As the magazine and Priestly have such a prominent reputation in the industry, Andy’s plan is simple – she will put up with Priestly’s demands and humiliating treatment for one year in the hopes of landing a job as a writer or reporter elsewhere. Andy has to then navigate a year at the cutthroat Runway, sparring with fellow assistant Emily (Blunt), and seeking solace in art director Nigel (Tucci).
One of the reasons the book attracted so much attention was because the author Lauren Weisberger had previously worked as a personal assistant for famous Vogue editor Anna Wintour. As such, the story provides an interesting look inside the fishbowl of a fashion publishing powerhouse, with Priestly a clear caricature of Wintour, and the other characters representing other Vogue staff. Wintour famously attended the premiere of the film (wearing Prada) and claimed that it “would go straight to DVD.” 327 million dollars and fifteen years later, it’s safe to say 20th Century Fox had the last laugh.
Full disclosure here, I know very little about fashion. This won’t surprise anybody who’s met me before. However, it’s pretty clear that McKenna and Frankel have tried to mould the script and characters to represent the absolute worst parts of the fashion world – a world that outsiders believe the industry would be like. The politics, backstabbing, sucking up, power plays, it’s a nightmare work environment for the instantly lovable Andy. However, by filling the script with snappy one-liners that are delivered by a world-class acting quartet, the film comes across as more of a light-hearted parody than an attack on the fashion industry.
The story itself is funny and easy to follow, but you watch it for the superstar cast. The resumes of Streep, Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci need no introduction, but they are all at their sparkling best in this, bouncing genuinely funny quips and insults at one another. If anything, Hathaway’s Andy is probably the most boring character. Like Harry Potter, she’s more of a vanilla, stable protagonist from which to bounce the more exciting peripherals off. Streep’s performance as Miranda Priestley results in one of the best movie villainesses of all time, with her cold scathing glares and softly spoken insults delivered perfectly. Blunt has some of the best lines in the whole film, and Tucci plays the stern but fatherly Nigel in such a loveable way that it makes you want to work with him at Runway. There are millions of fun casting, acting and production stories from this movie, but I’ll include these after the review below.
Unfortunately it’s not all rainbows and butterflies with this film. The relationship between Andy, her boyfriend Nate (played by Grenier – Vince from Entourage) and her friends is pretty boring. I understand that these scenes exist to show ‘how much Andy has changed’ during her time at Runway, but Hathaway has no chemistry with Grenier, and I just…don’t care. Show me more Streep and Blunt, not these random characters who add nothing to the movie. The same can be said of Simon Baker’s character, a sleazy fashion editor called Christian Thompson who spends the whole movie stalking Andy, and then kind of assaults her in Paris. She says ‘no’ three times but he keeps kissing her? Zero chance that would be approved if the movie were made today. In essence, any scene without Streep, Tucci, or Blunt feels like empty screen time, which leaves some dead air during the film.
Outside of these moments, The Devil Wears Prada rocks. It’s funny, quotable and is headlined by four great acting performances, Highly recommend.
Rating: 7.5/10
Casting What-ifs:
Streep was the only actress ever considered for Miranda.
The casting for Andy was a lot less straightforward, with Fox wanting an established A-lister, most notably Rachel McAdams, who was coming off The Notebook and Mean Girls. When McAdams turned down the offer, the studio looked at Claire Danes and Juliette Lewis, but eventually settled on Hathaway.
Over a hundred actresses had auditioned for the role of Emily, before a casting agent on another Fox lot found Blunt auditioning for the fantasy film ‘Eragon’. Impressed by her sassy British accent, the casting agent asked Blunt to read for Emily in a parking lot, taped it, and the rest is history.
Tucci was only cast 72 hours before the shoot began.
The cast all got a leg-up from being in this movie:
It was Hathaway’s first movie intended for an adult audiences, which lead to her being cast in more serious roles, and eventually getting an Oscar in Les Miserables
It was Blunt’s huge breakout role, and she became a star almost overnight. Initially a nobody, Blunt says the very next day after the movie came out she was asked for autographs while getting a coffee.
The cast remained good friends after filming finished (with Tucci eventually marrying Blunt’s sister)
Costuming/avoiding Wintour’s wrath:
The film has a reported total wardrobe cost of about $1 million, which makes it one of the most expensive wardrobes ever
However, fashion brands were so worried about angering Wintour by participating in the film that many didn’t want to be seen as directly assisting the production.
Wintour apparently warned major fashion designers who had been invited to make cameo appearances as themselves in the film that they would be banished from Vogue’s pages if they did so. Vogue and other major women’s and fashion magazines also conspicuously never mentioned the book or film in their pages.