Why The Devil Wears Prada Producer Faced Criticism Over Meryl Streep's Casting
If you've ever seen the beloved 2006 film "The Devil Wears Prada," it probably feels impossible that anyone besides Meryl Streep could have played Miranda Priestly. Though the film is ostensibly centered around Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Anne Hathaway) as she starts a high-pressure job working for Runway magazine — run with an iron fist by Streep's Miranda — the legendary actress steals every single scene. This almost didn't happen, though.
During an interview on the "Hollywood Gold" podcast, the film's producer, Wendy Finerman, revealed to host Daniela Taplin Lundberg that she got major pushback over the idea of Streep playing Miranda. She didn't identify the exact people, but Finerman said that people really, really doubted whether or not Streep could pull off the role. "And Meryl, people thought we were crazy," Finerman said. "I mean, I had people call me up and say, 'Are you out of your mind? She's never been funny a day in her life.'"
Luckily, Finerman knew that Streep could be incredibly funny (apparently, she'd seen "Death Becomes Her," or was just aware that Streep can pull off basically any role without breaking a sweat). "She has been funny and they were wrong," Finerman clarified. "But this was clearly a different kind of role for her."
Obviously, Meryl Streep was the perfect choice
Meryl Streep obviously secured the role of Miranda in the end, but it's patently ridiculous that anyone thought she couldn't play the part. Miranda Priestly is an incredible character — even her entrance, where people scatter out of her way and her employees rush to make themselves and the office look exactly perfect, is completely iconic — and Streep manages to find the nuance in this powerful and intimidating character.
In the hands of a lesser actor, Miranda could have been completely two-dimensional, but when Miranda breaks down in front of Andy near the film's climax over an impending divorce and her reputation, you truly feel for her despite the fact that she's spent the entire film soundly abusing everyone.
Her co-stars agree, and when Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway recently reunited for the Actors on Actors series presented by Variety, they even gave a shout-out to Streep's improvisational skills. "I remember seeing Meryl come up with 18 different lines on the spot," Hathaway said to Blunt — although apparently, Streep wasn't the only one. "Stanley Tucci was doing the same, and you. I was just like this kindergartner who was like, 'How are they all so good?'"
Playing Miranda Priestly took a toll on Meryl Streep
While Meryl Streep was the perfect choice to play Miranda Priestly, she did tell Entertainment Weekly in an oral history of the hit film that playing the character made things difficult for her. As the article reveals, Streep met privately with Tom Rothman (the head of 20th Century Fox at the time) to discuss the script in 2005, and she was adamant that she wanted to craft the character carefully.
The movie's source material — the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger — is widely understood to be about Vogue's real-life editor Anna Wintour, and Streep was clear that she needed to make Miranda different so that it wasn't a mere caricature. "I wasn't interested in doing a biopic on Anna; I was interested in her position in her company," Streep told EW. "I wanted to take on the burdens she had to carry, along with having to look nice every day."
That said, she and Emily Blunt both recalled that she would be cold on set to Blunt and Anne Hathaway, who play her assistants in the movie — and doing so led to a pretty depressing experience for Streep. "It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer," the Academy-Award-winning actress admitted. "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!"
"The Devil Wears Prada" is available to stream on Max now.