If looks could kill, then for 15 yearsThe Devil Wears Pradahas been a serial threat.
DAVID FRANKEL (DIRECTOR): Something in me reacted against every beat of the screenplay at the time.
It was a revenge story.
Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Brigitte Lacombe/20th Century Studios
It was very satirical.
LAUREN WEISBERGER (AUTHOR):What they were [originally] missing was the sharp humor…. STREEP:Absolute power corrupts absolutely…. [Miranda] didn’t do any of that.
The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it.
Anne Hathaway in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Everett Collection
ANNE HATHAWAY (ANDY):It spoke to me.
It made me feel.
FRANKEL:Meryl was eager to make the movie, and she said “let me meet with her.
Gisele Bündchen and Emily Blunt in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.20th Century Studios
“Brokeback Mountainwas about to come out.
Annie had a wonderful, small role in that.
HATHAWAY:I patiently waited until it was my turn, and I got the call.
Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Emily Blunt in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Barry Wetcher/20th Century Studios
It was the easiest yes in the world.
I remember the moment I found out I got the part, I just ran screaming through my apartment.
No one in that world is too nice.
Stanley Tucci and Meryl Streep in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Barry Wetcher/20th Century Studios
They don’t have to be, and they don’t have time to be.”
After that, I did a pass to make everyone a bit busier and meaner.
I never had any direct conversations with people, it was always getting back to me.
Anne Hathaway takes Meryl Streep’s coat in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Barry Wetcher/20th Century Studios
We just worked around it.
The fact is that Meryl Streep wanted to do the movie.
We went for weeks being unable to secure locations!
Everett Collection
GISELE BUNDCHEN (SERENA):You just knew the people that worked atVoguewere dedicated and professional.
Who doesn’t want to hey their boss?
That is the regular day to day craziness that I think was important to maintain….
Anne Hathaway and Adrian Grenier in ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'.Everett Collection
There were a lot of things that skewed very close to reality.
WEISBERGER:They got it really,reallyclose.
With a cast in place, table reads began.
She told me how she would say certain things.
BLUNT:There’s something a bit more imperious that I thought’d be interesting….
It was appropriate for her, and something a bit more cutting about it that I found funny.
STREEP:It was a direct steal from the way I saw Clint Eastwood run a set.
It was all up to them to have this reaction.
I could just speak and be slightly nastier than I normally am.
It’s the perfect Hollywood movie.
FRANKEL:Stanley came in for his first fitting the afternoon before he worked.
He had a couple of hours.
He loved the script, but he was trying to find the character with no prep or rehearsal.
Pat gave him a ring.
It just sort of made sense!
Tucci honed Nigel’s dry humor across improvised bitsmost famously with the line “Gird your loins!”
which precedes Miranda’s first-entrance scene.
TUCCI:We attempted [saying] “Tits in!”
That was one I made up, but every time we laughed.
“Gird your loins!”
He must’ve done 10 versions.
I didn’t know what he was going to come out with next.
There was not one where I got through it unscathed.
BUNDCHEN:We were laughing a lot.
When it was [time for my] scene, we were talking about an eyelash curler.
I added a line, because it felt natural to me, and it made the cut!
They were like, “That’s perfect!”
FRANKEL:There were [initially] no designers of note who would appear in the film.
They just didn’t want to incur the wrath of Anna.
Initially, Pat had a hard time getting clothes out of a lot of the designers.
HATHAWAY:I [remember wearing] a Chanel sample, and it had pins in it.
I was pulling pins out for weeks.
I’d do a take, like, “Ow!”
And we’d cut, I’d fish it out.
Of course they were Chanel pins, so they were impossibly chic as well.
STREEP:Pat did a miracle with this.
PATRICIA FIELD (COSTUME DESIGNER):Meryl told me she [wanted] to have white hair….
I said to Meryl, “I can’t convince [the producers].
They have in their mind that white hair is gray hair.”
FRANKEL:The first time Meryl was Miranda Priestly was a meeting with the head of the studio.
The latter embraced the darknessand fused her own pathos with the material.
STREEP:It was horrible!
I was [miserable] in my trailer.
I could hear them all rocking and laughing.
I was so depressed!
I said, “Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!”
That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!
HATHAWAY:I did feel intimidated, but I always felt cared for.
There’s too much history.”
We forwent that intimacy for something more familial.
FRANKEL:Annie was totally committed to the dark side, to the suffering…. At $35 million, the film was modestly budgeted.
Its climactic scenes set in Paris almost had to be shot domestically.
The studio needed cutsMcKenna estimates she nixed $10 million worth of scenes, including the “Florals?
bit that Frankel saved, and an alternate ending that didn’t survive.
We had many versions of that.
The movie used to end with a slightly more upbeat scene with Nate, more of a reconciliation.
I had written a more conventional ending where they run through the park together or something.
I didn’t understand it.
HATHAWAY:I don’t think everybody’s being completely honest with themselves about their own poutiness.
Nate was pouty on his birthday because his girlfriend wasn’t there!
In hindsight, I’m sure he wishes he made a different choice, but who doesn’t?
We’ve all been brats at different points.
We all just need to live, let live, and do better!
Test showings began, with an unexpected guest popping in around May 2006.
McKENNA:Anna came to the first screening in New York.
It’s really hard.”
FRANKEL:[The studio] didn’taskfor [a sequel].
We had a meeting where we said, “What could we do if there was a sequel?”
We came to the same conclusion, that just following the characters wouldn’t be the same.
WEISBERGER:There have been a lot of conversations about it.
I wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility.
McKENNA:Magazines and publishing have changed so much.
Maybe they still do that, but I doubt it.
It had its moment!
The Devil Wears Pradais available now on Blu-ray and digital platforms.Watch the fullcast reunion video above.
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