20th Century Fox bought the rights to a film adaptation of Weisberger's novel in 2003, before it was completed; the project was not greenlit until Streep was cast. Principal photography lasted 57 days, primarily taking place in New York City from October to December 2005. Additional filming took place in Paris.
Most designers and other fashion notables avoided appearing as themselves for fear of displeasing the American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who is widely believed to have been the inspiration for Priestly.[4][5] Wintour eventually overcame her skepticism, saying she liked the film and Streep's performance in particular.[6]
Plot
Aspiring journalist Andrea "Andy" Sachs has recently graduated from Northwestern University. Despite her lack of knowledge of the fashion industry, she is hired as a junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly, the notoriously cruel editor-in-chief of Runway magazine in New York City. Andy resolves to tolerate Miranda's abusive treatment until she can use her connections from Runway to find a job more focused on journalism.
Andy fits in poorly with her superficial, fashion-forward co-workers, particularly Miranda's senior assistant, Emily Charlton, and struggles to meet Miranda's irrational demands. After Andy fails to arrange for Miranda to be flown back from Miami during a hurricane, Miranda berates her. Andy approaches Runway's art director, Nigel, for advice, and he helps her select stylish clothes to wear to work.
Noticing Andy's increased commitment to the job, Miranda begins to delegate more important tasks to her. As Andy absorbs the Runway philosophy, she outperforms Emily, who yearns to attend Paris Fashion Week as Miranda's assistant and, in preparation for the event, follows extreme diets.
When Emily arrives to work sick and forgets about the guests at a charity benefit, Andy steps in to save Miranda from embarrassment. Miranda selects Andy to be her assistant at Paris Fashion Week instead of Emily. Emily is hit by a car; while visiting her in hospital, Andy informs Emily of Miranda's changed plan, and Emily berates Andy for accepting Miranda's offer. Andy's boyfriend Nate breaks up with her, disappointed that she has become one of the shallow, egotistical women she once ridiculed.
In Paris, Andy learns that Miranda's husband has filed for divorce. Later that night, Nigel tells Andy that he has accepted a job as creative director with rising designer James Holt. She spends the night with an attractive writer, Christian Thompson, who tells her that Jacqueline Follet (Miranda's counterpart as editor-in-chief at French Runway) is being prepped to replace Miranda. Andy attempts to warn Miranda, but Miranda dismisses her.
At a later luncheon, Miranda announces Jacqueline as Holt's new creative director, much to Andy and Nigel's shock. Miranda reveals that she already knew of the scheme to replace her, and sacrificed Nigel's ambitions to keep her job. Andy is repulsed by Miranda's betrayal, but Miranda points out that Andy did the same thing to Emily by agreeing to accompany Miranda to Paris. Not wanting to become the type of person Miranda is, Andy storms off. When Miranda tries calling her, Andy tosses her phone into the Fontaines de la Concorde.
Back in New York, Andy meets up with Nate, who tells her he has a new job as a sous-chef in Boston, and they agree to keep in touch. The same day, Andy has an interview at the New York Mirror newspaper. The editor recounts that when he called Runway for a reference, Miranda told him that Andy was "the biggest disappointment she had ever had as an assistant, and that he would be an idiot not to hire her".
After getting the job, Andy calls Emily and offers her the clothes she obtained in Paris. While walking past the Runway office building, Andy sees Miranda and waves at her. Miranda does not acknowledge Andy, but smiles to herself once seated in her car.
Director David Frankel and producer Wendy Finerman had read The Devil Wears Prada in book proposal form.[8] Frankel recalls the experience as having high stakes, since it was the biggest project they had yet attempted, with barely adequate resources. "We knew we were on very thin ice," he told Variety for a 2016 article on the film's 10th anniversary. "It was possible this could be the end of the road for us."[9]
Weisberger is widely believed to have based Miranda on Anna Wintour, the editor in chief of Vogue, for whom she herself had once worked as a personal assistant. Fear of what Wintour might do in retribution for any visible cooperation with the production posed obstacles, not just in the fashion industry but also in Hollywood.[10]
Pre-production
Fox bought the rights to Weisberger's novel not only before its publication in 2003, but before it was even finished. Carla Hacken, then the studio's executive vice president, had only seen the first hundred pages of the manuscript and an outline for how the rest of the plot was to go. But for her that was enough. "I thought Miranda Priestly was one of the greatest villains ever," she recalled in 2016. "I remember we aggressively went in and scooped it up."[9]
Writing
Work on a screenplay started before Weisberger had finished. When it became a bestseller, elements of the plot were incorporated into the screenplay. Most took their inspiration from the 2001 Ben Stiller film Zoolander, satirizing the fashion industry. But it was not ready to film. Elizabeth Gabler, later head of production at Fox, noted that the finished novel did not have a complete narrative.[9]
In the meantime, producer Wendy Finerman sought a director. David Frankel was hired despite his limited experience, having only made one feature, Miami Rhapsody, along with episodes of Sex and the City and Entourage. He was unsure about the property, calling it "undirectable ... a satire rather than a love story".[11] Later, he cited Unzipped, the 1995 documentary about designer Isaac Mizrahi, as his model for the film's attitude towards fashion, both silly and serious.[12]
At a meeting with Finerman, Frankel said he thought the story unnecessarily punished Miranda.[9] He prepared to move on and consider more scripts. Two days later his manager persuaded him to reconsider and look for something he liked that he could shape the film into. He took the job, giving Finerman extensive notes on the script and laying out a detailed vision for the film.[11]
Four screenwriters worked on the property. Peter Hedges wrote the first draft; another writer passed. Paul Rudnick did some work on Miranda's scenes, followed by a Don Roos rewrite.[11] After that, Aline Brosh McKenna, who related her own youthful experiences to the story,[11][13] produced a draft that struck the right balance for Finerman and Frankel, whose notes were incorporated into a final version,[9] rearranging the plot significantly,[9] and focusing the story on the conflict between Andy and Miranda.[14][11]
McKenna toned down Miranda's meanness at Finerman and Frankel's request, only to restore it for Streep.[8] She cited Don Rickles as her main influence for the insults; before starting work on the screenplay she had come up with Miranda's "Take a chance. Hire the smart fat girl" line.[15] Weisberger recalled in 2021 that McKenna's draft took it away from the "typical chick flick" direction it was going in.[10]
In a 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly, McKenna revealed that the character she and Frankel had the most discussions about was Andrea's boyfriend Nate. She likened his role in the story to that usually played by a male protagonist's girlfriend or wife who regularly reminds him of responsibilities at home that he has neglected.[16]
McKenna consulted with fashion acquaintances to make her screenplay more realistic, made difficult since they did not want to offend Wintour.[10] In a 2010 British Academy of Film and Television Arts lecture, she told of a scene that was changed after one of these reviews, where Nigel told Andy not to complain so much about her job. Originally, she had made his speech more of a supportive pep talk, but one of those acquaintances said that would not happen.[17]
Cerulean sweater speech
The cerulean sweater speech
In the "cerulean speech",[18] Miranda draws the connection between the designer fashion in Runway's pages and Andy's cerulean blue sweater, criticizing Andy's snobbishness about fashion and explaining the trickle-down effect. It slowly grew from a few lines where the editor disparaged her assistant's fashion sense, to a speech about "why she thought fashion was important ... She is so aware that she is affecting billions of people, and what they pick off the floor and what they are putting on their bodies in the morning."[15] Streep said in 2016 she was interested in "the responsibility lying on the shoulders of a woman who was the head of a global brand ... That scene wasn't about the fun of fashion, it was about marketing and business."[2][a]
McKenna recalls that she kept expanding it to suit Streep and Frankel, continually unsure if it would be used. Revising it, she realized that Miranda would describe something not as just blue—chosen as the color for Andy's sweater[15]—but would instead use an exact shade. From a list of shades McKenna sent, Streep picked cerulean; the final speech takes up almost a page of the script.[20] The references to past designer collections are fictional, McKenna explains.[15] However, Huffington Post pointed out that designers often take inspiration from the streets.[21]
The speech became one of the film's most memorable moments.[18][22] "'Cerulean' [has never] sounded more sinister," Huffington Post wrote in 2016,[21] "Whole books could be written on Streep's inflections in this scene", wrote The New Zealand Herald in 2020, "but let's focus on one word", referring to her "truly extraordinary emphasis" on the first syllable of "ready", conveying utter boredom.[23] In 2018, The New York Times fashion critic Vanessa Friedman invoked the speech in her defense of the importance of covering haute couture.[24] Morwenna Ferrier, in The Guardian, agreed that fashion mattered, even to people who claim to be "oblivious to trends". She cited the yellow Guo Pei dress Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala, popularizing that color over the next two years.[25]Study Breaks pointed to brands such as Vetements, which takes its inspiration from everyday streetwear, and Champion, the sportswear brand whose popularity with low-income customers helped make an elite brand those customers can no longer afford.[26]
In 2016, on the film's 10th anniversary, Mic wrote that the speech's logic functioned as a critique of cultural appropriation.[27] Six years later, in a Slate article, Nadira Goffe recalled Streep's "epic, unfeeling monologue" about the sweater as a "perfect example" of the archetype, her manner conveying "an air of removal", indicating how little she cared, or that she was "lying about caring at all".[28]
"Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking!"
Miranda's sarcastic response to assistant editor Jocelyn's suggestion for a story about the floral prints being shown in spring collections has been considered the film's single best line. McKenna regularly sees it used as a headline at that time of year,[29] and some fashion journalists have referenced it in stories about florals as a spring fashion favorite.[30][31][29]
McKenna wrote the scene for the film with Streep in mind. When the two first met to discuss the script, Streep told her she really liked the "By all means move at a glacial pace; you know that thrills me" line earlier in the film. In the script it was written with periods after "florals" and "spring"; Streep spoke them with a slight rising intonation, as if they ended in question marks, when the scene was filmed. McKenna sees Streep's way of saying "florals" has the same resonance for her as "glacial pace" in the earlier scene. "It just punches you in the face ever so lightly, slowly ruining your self-esteem."[29]
Some fashion journalists have conceded the line's point while defending florals as a spring fashion motif. "It's true that defaulting to that pattern isn't exactly reinventing the wheel", writes E!. "But why should you have to? Much like cliches, classics are classics for a reason." Tatler adds: "[P]erhaps Miranda Priestly was right and there is nothing groundbreaking about florals for spring; but that doesn't mean it can't be done well and with style."[30][31]
Casting
Finerman revealed Streep was almost passed over because people thought she was not funny.[32] Another source claimed that Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close, and Catherine Zeta-Jones had been considered.[10] Weisberger, who initially could not imagine Streep playing the part, recalled that after seeing her on set it was "crystal clear" that she was perfect.[33] Her casting helped offset the difficulties Wintour's resistance to the film had created.[10] The news that Streep would meet with Frankel was celebrated at Fox. But while Streep knew the film could be successful, she felt the pay she was being offered for playing Miranda was too low. The producers doubled it to around $4million,[2] and she signed on, allowing Fox to greenlight the film.[9] According to Frankel, Streep saw the film as a chance to "skewer the doyennes of the fashion world". She felt that fashion magazines "twisted the minds of young women around the world and their priorities. This was an interesting way to get back at them", and, she said, the film passed the Bechdel test.[2] She insisted on the cerulean sweater speech,[34] and the scene where Miranda briefly opens up to Andy, without makeup, about her divorce. "I wanted", she explained, "to see that face without its protective glaze, to glimpse the woman in the businesswoman."[9]
Anne Hathaway actively sought the part, tracing "Hire me" in the sand of the zen garden on Hacken's desk when she talked about the project with the executive. While Frankel liked her enough not to require her to audition, she thought she was not the studio's first choice and he would have to be patient.[9][8] Fox production chief Elizabeth Gabler says the studio had not realized how strong her audience was after the Princess Diaries films.[2] Gabler recalls Hathaway sitting on her couch giving her notes on the third act. While the studio did not use those notes, "her sensibilities were completely aligned with what we ended up doing."[10][36][9]
Over 100 actresses were considered for Emily before a casting agent taped Emily Blunt reading some of the lines elsewhere on the Fox lot after her audition for Eragon. Although she read them in her own British accent, Frankel was interested;[9] Finerman liked her sense of humor.[14] After the makers of Eragon cast Sienna Guillory, Frankel called her, saying that while he would have cast her just from the tape, the studio wanted to see another audition with her dressed more in character.[9] She insisted on continuing to play the character as British.[37] Both Hathaway and Blunt lost weight for their roles; Hathaway later recounted that they "would clutch at each other and cry because we were so hungry."[38] Blunt denied rumors she did this at the filmmakers' request.[39][40]
Colleen and Suzanne Dengel, who played Miranda's daughters, were cast two weeks after auditioning for Frankel and Finerman. The director and producer laughed, which the sisters believed help them get the part. They recalled that they were excited both by being able to work together on camera for the first time, and for the chance to act opposite Hathaway since they were fans of the Princess Diaries films.[41]
Tucci was one of the last actors cast; he agreed to play Nigel only three days before shooting started.[9][10] The filmmakers had auditioned Barney's creative director Simon Doonan and E!'s Robert Verdi, both openly gay men highly visible as media fashion commentators; the BBC's Graham Norton auditioned[42] among 150 other actors.[10] Verdi said there was no intention to hire him and the producers had just used him and Doonan to give whoever they ultimately did cast some filmed research to use in playing a gay character. Tucci says he was unaware of this. He based the character on various people he was acquainted with, insisting on the glasses he ultimately wore.[43]Daniel Sunjata had read unenthusiastically for Tucci's part, but then read the Holt part and asked if he could audition for it. Simon Baker auditioned by sending a video of himself, wearing the same self-designed green jacket he has on when he and Andy meet for the first time.[44]
Wintour reportedly warned major fashion designers who had been invited to make cameo appearances in the film that they would be banished from the magazine's pages if they did so;[45] Frankel said in 2021 the most any were willing to do was help the production with background information.[10]Vogue and other major women's and fashion magazines avoided reviewing or even mentioning the book. Wintour's spokespeople deny the claim.[45]
Only Valentino Garavani, who designed the black evening gown Miranda wears during the museum benefit scene, chose to make an appearance.[45] Coincidentally, he was in New York City during production and Finerman dared Field, an acquaintance, to ask him personally. Much to her surprise, he accepted.[46] Other cameos include Heidi Klum as herself and Weisberger as the twins' nanny.[47]Gisele Bündchen agreed to appear only if she did not play a model.[44]
Principal photography took place over 57 days in New York and Paris in late 2005.[44] The film's budget was initially $35 million and was to only include filming in New York.[2] The limited budget caused problems with some locations—the crew could not get permission to shoot at the Museum of Modern Art or Bryant Park,[9] which they attribute to fear of Wintour. The co-op boards at many apartment buildings refused to let the production use them for Miranda's, which Frankel believes was because of Wintour's influence.[10]
Ballhaus, at Finerman and Frankel's suggestion, composed as many shots as possible, whether interiors or exteriors, to at least partially take in busy New York street scenes in the background, to convey the excitement of working in a glamorous industry in New York. He used a handheld camera during some of the busier meeting scenes in Miranda's office, to better convey the flow of action, and slow motion for Andrea's entrance into the office following her makeover. A few process shots were necessary, mainly to put exterior views behind windows on sets and in the Mercedes where Miranda and Andy are having their climactic conversation.[44]
Fox originally refused permission to let Frankel shoot some scenes from the third act in Paris, where it is set, due to the low budget. After six "nightmarish"[2] weeks of shooting, he had an editor cut a "sizzle reel" of highlights. That convinced the studio to increase the budget to allow for limited shooting overseas.[2] Streep did not go as Fox believed it would be too expensive; green screen shots and her body double were used instead.[9][2]
Acting
After casting of the major parts, the actors gathered in New York for a table read. Hathaway was nervous, she recalls, since she had not developed her idea of the part. Blunt, by contrast, found Streep's laugh relaxed her enough to keep her focused on playing a nervous, distracted Emily. The highlight of the session was Streep's first line as Miranda. Instead of the "strident, bossy, barking voice" everyone expected, Hathaway says, Streep silenced the room by speaking in a near whisper. "It was so unexpected and brilliant." At the reading Streep changed Miranda's last line to "everybody wants to be us" from the original "me".[9]
Devil was the only film of Streep's where she took a Method approach, staying in character between takes. She purposely kept to herself and did not socialize with the rest of the cast and crew when shooting was done. She missed the socializing, and never used the Method approach again.[10] She made a conscious decision not to play the part as a direct impression of Wintour,[48] right down to making the character American rather than English.[37][8] The "that's all,"[49] "please bore someone else ..."[50]catchphrases; her coat-tossing on Andrea's desk[51] and discarded steak lunch[52] are retained from the novel. Streep prepared by reading a book by Wintour protégé Liz Tilberis and the memoirs of Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. She lost so much weight during shooting that the clothes had to be taken in.[48] During the movie's press tour, Streep said her performance as Miranda was inspired by different men she knew, but did not say which ones. In 2016, she disclosed to Variety that she took Miranda's soft speaking style from Clint Eastwood. However, she said, Eastwood does not make jokes, so she modeled that aspect of the character on director Mike Nichols, whose delivery of a cutting remark, she said, made everyone laugh, including the target. "The walk, I'm afraid, is mine," Streep added.[9]
For Miranda's actual look, Streep looked to two women. The bouffant hairstyle was inspired by model and actress Carmen Dell'Orefice,[b] which Streep said she wanted to blend with "the unassailable elegance and authority of [French politician] Christine Lagarde".[9][15] She wanted Miranda's hair to be white, which the producers feared would make her look too old, but the studio trusted her and she worked with makeup artist and stylist J. Roy Helland to create the look.[10]
The costumes Field designed to go with that look resulted in numerous blown takes during the montage where Miranda repeatedly throws her overcoat on Andrea's desk when she arrives in the morning.[9] When McKenna saw Streep as Miranda for the first time on set, she recalls being so terrified she threw her arm in front of Frankel "like we were in a car wreck".[15]
Hathaway prepared for the part by volunteering for a week as an assistant at an auction house.[33] Frankel recalls that she was nervous through most of the shooting, particularly when working late.[9][2] The director said she was "terrified" before starting her first scene with Streep, who had begun her working relationship with Hathaway by saying first "I think you're perfect for the role and I'm so happy we're going to be working on this together" then warning her that was the last nice thing she would say.[53] Streep applied this philosophy to everyone else on set, keeping her distance unless it was necessary to discuss something.[44][41]
The scene where Andy delivers the Book, the mockup of the magazine in progress, was, according to the Dengels totally improvised. Nevertheless, it took three more days of filming to get the shot of the girls up in the stairwell the way Frankel wanted it, a look she believes was inspired by a similar scene with twin girls in The Shining.[41]
Costuming
Frankel, who had worked with Patricia Field on his feature-film debut Miami Rhapsody as well as Sex and the City, knew that what the cast wore would be of utmost importance in the movie.[54] While only Valentino Garavani appeared onscreen, many other designers assisted.[55] Frankel recalls that Prada's decision to assist Field "helped her break the ice".[10]
The $100,000 budget for the film's costumes was supplemented by help from Field's industry friends; she estimated that about a million dollars of clothing appeared on screen.[56] The single priciest item was a $100,000 Fred Leightonnecklace on Streep,[55] who likened Field's success with the wardrobe to the special effects in the Mission: Impossible films.[10]
When Hathaway enters the office after Nigel gives her access to Runway's closet, she is dressed entirely in Chanel. Field explained in 2016 that she felt Hathaway "was a Chanel girl organically", and the company were delighted to help as she presented a younger image.[57] Most of the garments onscreen were borrowed; Streep recalls not being able to eat spaghetti at lunch while wearing one dress so it could be returned clean.[10]
Dolce & Gabbana and Calvin Klein helped Field as well, with some contributions from Lebanese designer Georges Chakra.[58] Although Field avoids making Streep look like Wintour, she dresses her in generous helpings of Prada.[59] Field said she did not want people to easily recognize what Miranda was wearing.[60] But, like Wintour and her Vogue predecessor Diana Vreeland, the two realized that Miranda needed a signature look, provided primarily by her white wig and forelock as well as the clothes.[8][61]
Blunt recalls that she and Streep wore their outfit shoes only when they were shown in full. Whenever only their upper bodies needed to be visible, they wore more comfortable footwear like Uggs. Hathaway, by contrast, always wore whatever shoes she had been given. "[She was running] over cobblestone streets like a sure-footed little mountain goat", Blunt recalls.[10]
Emily Blunt in the look Field created for her character
She contrasted Andy and Emily by giving Andy a sense of low-risk style that would suggest clothing a fashion magazine would have on hand for shoots.[10] Blunt, on the other hand was "so on the edge she's almost falling off".[62] For her, Field chose pieces by Vivienne Westwood and Rick Owens to suggest a taste for funkier, more "underground" clothing.[60] After the film's release, some of the looks Field chose became popular, to the filmmakers' amusement.[47][63]
Tucci praised Field's skill in putting ensembles together that were not only stylish but subtly helped him develop his character.[43] Tucci found one Dries van Noten tie he wore during the film to his liking and kept it.[43]
Production design
After touring some offices of real fashion magazines, Jess Gonchor gave the Runway offices a clean, white look meant to suggest a makeup compact[44] ("the chaste beiges and whites of impervious authority," Denby called it[64]). Miranda's office bears some strong similarities to the real office of Anna Wintour, down to an octagonal mirror on the wall, photographs and a floral arrangement on the desk.[65] Gonchor later told Women's Wear Daily that he had based the set on a photo of Wintour's office he found online; the similarity led Wintour to have her office redecorated after the movie's release.[66] In 2021, Frankel said Gonchor had actually managed to sneak into Vogue's offices to get a look at Wintour's. "They got it really, really close", Weisberger said.[10]
Gonchor even chose separate computer wallpaper to highlight different aspects of Blunt's and Hathaway's character: Paris's Arc de Triomphe on Blunt's suggests her aspirations to accompany Miranda to the shows there, while the floral image on Andy's suggests the natural, unassuming qualities she displays at the outset of her tenure with the magazine. For the photo of Andy with her parents, Hathaway posed with her own mother and David Marshall Grant.[44] The Dengel twins recalled being asked every day for three years straight if the Harry Potter advance copies were real; to their great disappointment they were not and in fact were "all gibberish". They eventually auctioned them for $586 on eBay, along with various clothing used in the film, to benefit Dress for Success, a charity which provides business clothing to help women transition into the workforce.[41]
Many of the locations are in New York, including the Reuters cafeteria in Manhattan,[44] while Nate and Andy's apartment is on the Lower East Side,[47][67] and Andy gets on the subway at the Spring Street station and gets off at 51st Street.[67] The Smith & Wollensky steakhouse and its kitchen were used,[44] while Holt's studio is a loft used by an actual designer.[47] The American Museum of Natural History was used for the exterior of the museum benefit, while the lobby of a Foley Square courthouse is used for the interior.[44] The New York Mirror newsroom where Andy gets hired at the end of the film is that of the now-defunct New York Sun.[44]
The crew were in Paris for only two days, and used only exteriors. Streep did not make the trip.[8] All the hotel interiors are the St. Regis in Manhattan. The fashion shows were filmed on a soundstage in Queens. Likewise, Christian's hotel is the W Hotel at Times Square.[44]
Post-production
Editing
Mark Livolsi realized, as McKenna had on the other end, that the film worked best when it focused on the Andrea-Miranda storyline. Accordingly, he cut a number of primarily transitional scenes, such as Andrea's job interview and the Runway staff's trip to Holt's studio. He took out a scene early on where Miranda complimented Andrea. Upon reviewing them for the DVD, Frankel admitted he had not even seen them before, since Livolsi did not include them in any prints he sent to the director.[68]
Frankel praised Livolsi for making the film's four key montages—the opening credits, Miranda's coat-tossing, Andrea's makeover and the Paris introduction—work. The third was particularly challenging as it uses passing cars and other obstructions to cover Hathaway's changes of outfit. Some scenes were created in the editing room, such as the reception at the museum, where Livolsi wove B-roll footage in to keep the action flowing.[44]
In 2021 McKenna estimated that she had signed off on $10 million in cut scenes. An opening scene in which Andy goes to the wrong building on her way to her interview was taken out to get the story started more quickly. The scene where she misses Nate's birthday was originally more elaborate, with the couple supposed to meet up with their friends at a concert, but that proved to be too expensive, and so the scene with the cupcake was written instead. "We had many versions of that." And an alternate ending for the couple's arc, where they have the same conversation about the future of their relationship while running through the park, was filmed but replaced with the less optimistic scene in the restaurant.[10]
McKenna had been willing to cut Miranda's "Florals... for spring. Groundbreaking" line, but Frankel kept it in.[10]
Composer Theodore Shapiro relied heavily on guitar and percussion, with the backing of a full orchestra, to capture a contemporary urban sound. He ultimately wrote 35 minutes of music for the film, which were performed and recorded by the Hollywood Studio Symphony, conducted by Pete Anthony.[69] His work was balanced with songs by U2 ("City of Blinding Lights", Miranda and Andy in Paris), Madonna ("Vogue" & "Jump", Andrea's fashion montage & her first day on the job, respectively), KT Tunstall ("Suddenly I See", female montage during opening credits), Alanis Morissette ("Crazy", Central Park photo shoot), Bitter:Sweet ("Our Remains," Andy picks up James Holt's sketches for Miranda; Bittersweet Faith, Lily's art show), Azure Ray ("Sleep," following the breakdown of her relationship with Nate), Jamiroquai ("Seven Days in Sunny June," Andy and Christian meet at James Holt's party) among others. Frankel had wanted to use "City of Blinding Lights" in the film after he had used it as a soundtrack to a video montage of Paris scenes he had put together after scouting locations there.[44] Likewise, Field had advocated just as strongly for "Vogue".[60]
The soundtrack album was released on July 11, 2006, by Warner Music. It includes most of the songs mentioned above, as well as a suite of Shapiro's themes. Among the tracks not included is "Suddenly I See," an omission which disappointed many fans.[70]
Pre-release and marketing
Originally intended just to convince Fox to fund some shooting in Paris, Frankel's sizzle reel led the studio to put a stronger marketing push behind the movie. It moved the release date from February to summer, scheduling it as a lighter alternative audiences could consider to Superman Returns at the end of June 2006, and began to position it as an event movie in and of itself.[9]
Two decisions by the studio's marketing department that were meant to be preliminary wound up being integral to promoting the film. The first was the creation of the red stiletto heel ending in a pitchfork as the film's teaser poster. It was so successful and effective, becoming almost "iconic" (in Finerman's words), that it was used for the actual release poster as well. It became a brand, and was eventually used on every medium related to the film—the tie-in reprinting of the novel and the soundtrack and DVD covers as well.[8]
The studio put together a trailer of scenes and images from the first three minutes of the film, in which Andy meets Miranda for the first time, to be used at previews and film festivals until they could create a more standard trailer drawing from the whole film. But, again, this proved so effective with early audiences it was retained as the main trailer, since it created anticipation for the rest of the film without giving anything away.[8]
Gabler credits the studio's marketing team for being "really creative". Fox saw the film as "counter-programming" on the weekend Superman Returns was released. While they knew that the material and Hathaway would help draw a younger female audience that would not be as interested in seeing that film, "[w]e didn't want it to just seem like a chick flick coming out."[7]
Reception
The stars of The Devil Wears Prada at the Venice premiere, front row: (left to right) Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Kate Tucci and Meryl Streep. Valentino can be seen behind and between Stanley and Kate Tucci, and Beatrice Borromeo is partly visible to Stanley Tucci's left.
Critical response
The Devil Wears Prada received positive reviews from critics.[71][72][73] On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 195 reviews, along with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A rare film that surpasses the quality of its source novel, this Devil is a witty expose of New York's fashion scene, with Meryl Streep in top form and Anne Hathaway more than holding her own."[74] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[75] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.[76]
Initial reviews of the film focused primarily on Streep's performance, praising her for making an extremely unsympathetic character far more complex than she had been in the novel. "With her silver hair and pale skin, her whispery diction as perfect as her posture, Ms. Streep's Miranda inspires both terror and a measure of awe," wrote A. O. Scott in The New York Times. "No longer simply the incarnation of evil, she is now a vision of aristocratic, purposeful and surprisingly human grace."[77]
Blunt, too, earned some favorable notice. "[She] has many of the movie's best lines and steals nearly every scene she's in," wrote Clifford Pugh in the Houston Chronicle.[80] Other reviewers and fans concurred.[81][82] While all critics were in agreement about Streep and Blunt, they pointed to other weaknesses, particularly in the story. Reviewers familiar with Weisberger's novel assented to her judgment that McKenna's script greatly improved upon it.[64][77] An exception was Angela Baldassare at The Microsoft Network Canada, who felt the film needed more of the nastiness others had told her was abundant in the novel.[83]
Some reviews characterized the film as shallow or lacking thematic depth, emphasizing its surface glamour over its commentary on work, ambition, and power.[84]David Denby in The New Yorker wrote "The Devil Wears Prada tells a familiar story, and it never goes much below the surface of what it has to tell. Still, what a surface!"[64] Denby said Hathaway "suggests, with no more than a panicky sidelong glance, what Weisberger takes pages to describe",[64] whereas Baldassare said she "barely carrie[d] the load".[83]
Depiction of fashion industry
Some media outlets allowed their fashion reporters to comment on the movie. Booth Moore at Los Angeles Times chided Field for creating a "fine fashion fantasy with little to do with reality". She said that fashionistas were less likely to wear makeup and more likely to value edgier dressing styles (not including toe rings).[85] Field replied that it was not a documentary.[56] Fashion writer Hadley Freeman of The Guardian complained the film was awash in the sexism and clichés.[86] Charla Krupp, executive editor of SHOP, Inc., wrote, "It's the first film I've seen that got it right ... [It] has the nuances of the politics and the tension better than any film—and the backstabbing and sucking-up."[55] Joanna Coles, the editor of the U.S. edition of Marie Claire, agreed that it "brilliantly skewers a particular kind of young woman who lives, breathes, thinks fashion above all else".[55] Ginia Bellefante, in The New York Times, called it "easily the truest portrayal of fashion culture since Unzipped (1995)".[87] Her colleague Ruth La Ferla reported that industry insiders found the fashion in the movie too safe and the beauty too overstated.[56]
Commercial
On its June 30 opening weekend, right before the Independence Day holiday, the film was on 2,847 screens. Through that Sunday, July 2, it grossed $27million, second only to the big-budget Superman Returns,[88] breaking The Patriot's six-year-old record for the largest take by a movie released that holiday weekend that did not win the weekend;[89] a record that stood until Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs broke it in 2009.[90]
During its first week it added $13million. This led Fox to add 35 more screens the next weekend, the widest domestic distribution the film enjoyed. Although it was never any week's top-grossing film, it remained in the top 10 through July. Its theatrical run continued through December 10, shortly before the DVD release.[91]
"The core marketing was definitely to women," Gabler recalls, "but the men didn't resist going to the movie." She felt that male viewers responded favorably because they sought a glimpse inside fashion, and because Miranda "was enjoyable to watch". The release date helped generate word of mouth at holiday gatherings. "They were talking about it, like a summer reading book," said Gabler.[7]
It had a successful run in theaters, making nearly $125million in the United States and Canada and over $326million worldwide,[1] a career-high for all three top-billed actresses at that time. Streep would surpass it two years later with Mamma Mia[92] while Hathaway exceeded it in 2010 with Alice in Wonderland.[93][c] Blunt would not be in a higher-grossing film until 2014 with Edge of Tomorrow.[95][d] It was Tucci's highest-grossing film until Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).[97]
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, on whom Miranda is supposedly based, was at first skeptical of the film but later came to appreciate it.
Anna Wintour attended the film's New York premiere, wearing Prada. Her friend Barbara Amiel reported her as saying that the movie would go straight to DVD.[98] McKenna recalled that Wintour's daughter kept telling her mother that the film got many things right.[10] In an interview with Barbara Walters, Wintour called the film "really entertaining" and said she appreciated the "decisive" nature of Streep's portrayal.[6] Streep said Wintour was "probably more upset by the book than the film".[99] Wintour's popularity skyrocketed after her portrayal in the film. Streep said she did not base her character on Anna Wintour, but had been inspired by men she had known.[100] Frankel believes Wintour may still harbor hard feelings about the movie; she refused to shake his hand some years later at a tennis tournament in Miami.[10] In 2025, Wintour stated "I went to see the film, and I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny. It had a lot of humor to it. It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it was Emily Blunt, [and] they were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot."[101]
International
From top-down: the movie title logo for Latin America, English-language regions and Spain (in the same typeface as that used on the poster).
Weisberger's novel has been translated into 37 languages, giving the movie a strong potential foreign audience. The international box office delivered 60% of the film's gross. "We did our European premiere at the Venice Film Festival", Gabler says, where the city's gondoliers wore red T-shirts with the film's logo. "So many people around the world were captivated by the glossy fashion world. It was sexy and international."[7]
The film topped the charts on its European release on October 9. It was the highest-grossing film that weekend in the United Kingdom, Spain and Russia, taking in $41.5million.[102] It opened strongly across the rest of Europe, helping it remain atop the overseas charts the whole month.[103][104][105] It opened in China at the end of February 2007, taking $2.4million.[106] The greatest portion of the $201.8million total international box office came from the United Kingdom, with $26.5million, followed by Germany with $23.1million, Italy at $19.3million and France at $17.9million. Beyond Europe, the Japanese box office was the highest, at $14.6million, followed by Australia, at $12.6million.[106]
Most reviews from the international press praised Streep and the other actors, but called the film "predictable".[107]The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw, who found the film "moderately entertaining," took Blunt to task, calling her a "real disappointment ... strained and awkward".[108] In The Independent, Anthony Quinn said Streep "may just have given us a classic here" and concluded that the film was "as snappy and juicy as fresh bubblegum".[109]
The film's success led to a proposed American dramedy series meant to air for the 2007–08 season on Fox. However, it never reached a pilot episode.[120] With the video release came renewed interest in Weisberger's novel. It ranked eighth on USA Today's list of 2006 best sellers[121] and was the second most borrowed book in American libraries.[122] The audiobook version was released in October 2006 and quickly made it to third on that medium's fiction best seller list.[123]
Home media
The DVD was released on December 12, 2006 with an audio commentary, a humorous[124] five-minute blooper reel, and five featurettes.[125] A Blu-ray Disc was released simultaneously, without the featurettes.[126]
Reception
Immediately upon its December 12 release, it became the top rental in the United States. It held that spot through the end of the year, adding another $26.5million to the film's grosses; it dropped out of the top 50 at the end of March, with its grosses almost doubling.[127] The following week it made its debut on the DVD sales charts in third position. By the end of 2007 it had sold nearly 5.6million units, for a total of $94.4million in sales.[128]
Deleted scenes
Among the deleted scenes are some that added background, with commentary by the editor and director. Most were deleted by Livolsi.[68] Frankel approved of his editor's choices, differing on one scene, showing more of Andy on her errand to the Calvin Klein showroom. He felt that scene showed Andrea's job was about more than running personal errands for Miranda.[68] A different version of the scene at the gala was rediscovered by Spencer Althouse, BuzzFeed's community manager. In it, instead of Andy reminding Miranda of a guest's name after the sickened Emily cannot, Miranda's husband shows up and makes rude comments to not only his wife but Ravitz, the head of Elias-Clark. Andy earns a silent "thank you" from Miranda when she helps prevent the confrontation from escalating by diverting Ravitz with a question of her own.[129]
Cultural impact and legacy
In 2016, Vanity Fair noted how some better-remembered films had been bested by films that have not stood the test of time. It called Superman Returns' win over The Devil Wears Prada the "most ironic" of these victories.[130] In 2025, it was voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times' list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 111.[131]
Cast
Variety argued that the film had benefited all three of its lead actresses. It had proven that Streep could be a box-office draw by herself, opening doors for her to lead in summer movies such as Mamma Mia! (2008) and Julie & Julia (2009). For Hathaway, it was her first leading role in a film for an adult audience. Subsequent producers were impressed that she had held her own playing opposite Streep, which led to her being cast in more serious roles like Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Les Misérables (2012), for which she won an Oscar.[9]
Hathaway believes that Blunt's career took off because of her role, saying "I've never witnessed a star being born before." Blunt agrees that it was "a night and day change" for her—the day after the film was released, she told Variety, the staff at the coffee shop she had been going to for breakfast every morning in Los Angeles suddenly recognized her. Even ten years later, people still quote her lines from the film back to her at least once a week, she says.[9]
Audience demographics
"[The film] definitely paved the way for the filmmakers and distributors of the world to know that there was a female audience that was really strong out there", Gabler recalls, one that was not segmented by age. "Prada reminds me of movies that we don't have a lot of now—it harkens back to classic movies that had so much more than just one kind of plot line ... You just keep wanting to find something that can touch upon the same zeitgeist as this film."[7]
For Streep, the most significant thing about the film was that "[t]his was the first time, on any movie I have ever made, where men came up to me and said, 'I know what you felt like, this is kind of like my life.' That was for me the most ground-breaking thing about Devil Wears Prada—it engaged men on a visceral level," she told Indiewire.[7]
In 2008, The New York Times wrote that the movie had defined the public image of a personal assistant.[136] Seven years later, Dissent's Francesca Mari pointed to The Devil Wears Prada as the best-known narrative of assistantship.[137] The next year, writing about a proposed change in U.S. federal overtime regulations that threatened that practice, the Times called it the 'Devil Wears Prada' economy".[138]
On the film's 10th anniversary, Alyssa Rosenberg wrote in The Washington Post that Miranda anticipated female antiheroines of popular television series like Scandal's Olivia Pope and Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Like them, she observes, Miranda competently assumes a position of authority, despite her moral failings, that she must defend against attempts to use her personal life to remove her from it. In doing so, however, "she has zipped herself into a life as regimented and limited as a skintight pencil skirt."[139]
Five years later, Mekia Rivas in Harper's Bazaar faulted the film's portrayal of Miranda and Andy's relationship as reinforcing a false belief that since a young woman may only get one career break, she should take it no matter what she has to put up with from her boss. At the time of the film's release, "girlbosses" epitomized by Miranda had been seen as potentially revolutionizing the workplace, she noted. Rivas described Miranda as "a totally toxic superior who, in the end, was more interested in upholding the status quo than in reinventing it, despite having all the power and authority to do so. She wanted Andy to believe that saying no to her would be the end of her career, even though she knew Andy had all the potential in the world to make it without her or her connections."[140]
"Like many instant classics, Prada benefited from perfect timing", Variety's 2016 article observed, attempting to explain the film's enduring appeal. "It marked the beginning of the democratization of the fashion industry—when the masses started to pay attention to the business of what they wore." It credited the movie with helping stir interest in Ugly Betty, an American adaptation of the Colombian telenovelaYo soy Betty, la fea, which debuted months after the film's release.[9]
The film has been credited with increasing interest in R.J. Cutler's documentaryThe September Issue, which followed Wintour and other Vogue editors as they prepared the issue for that month of 2007.[9] Writing in The Ringer on the tenth anniversary, Alison Herman observed that "The Devil Wears Prada transformed Wintour's image from that of a mere public figure into that of a cultural icon." Once known primarily as a fashion editor, she was now "every overlord you'd ever bitched about three drinks deep at happy hour, only to dutifully fetch her coffee the next day." Ultimately, the film had effected a positive change in Wintour's image, Herman argued, "from a tyrant in chinchilla to an idol for the post-Sandberg age".[18]
As the film turned 10, Variety's 2016 article stated, '[The characterization] showed Hollywood that it was never wise to underestimate a strong woman's worth.'[141]
Antipathy to Nate
Grenier (shown in 2007) has come to terms with the negative reaction to his character.
Nate has been called the film's "real villain",[10] described as "not just an insecure boyfriend, he is judgemental, toxic, and repulsive".[142] "He mocks her for her new interest in fashion, he trivializes the magazine she works at, and dismisses her hard work", Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2017, collecting some tweets and other posts from social media critical of the character. Many, like the writer of that piece, found it particularly upsetting that he berated Andy for missing his birthday party even though she had a good work-related reason for her absence.[16] McKenna defended the character. "[W]hat people focus on is that he's trying to restrict her ambition," she told EW. "But her ambition is going towards something that she doesn't really believe in, so he has a point."[16] On the film's 15th anniversary, Grenier weighed in. "When that whole thing ... first came out, I couldn't get my head around it." He ultimately came to realize that he had more in common with the character at the time and, like Nate, had not completely matured. "[Now], after taking time to reflect and much deliberation online, I can realize the truth in that perspective ... He couldn't support her like she needed because he was a fragile, wounded boy."[10] Hathaway was more forgiving, pointing out that anyone can be pouty at times.[10]
Themes
University of Houstongender studies professor Andrew Joseph Pegoda notes that the film never challenges the arbitrariness and unfairness of female beauty standards, rather presenting them as unchangeable and unchallengeable, even where the women in the film seem to chafe at them. He sees this in the beginning, with Tunstall's "Suddenly I See", its lyrics celebrating the ideal of a beautiful woman over images of Andy and the other women working for Runway getting dressed ("When have we ever seen a movie play a song where standards for male beauty are described?" he asks). Even Miranda is framed by the male gaze when seen for the first time with only her legs visible. He reads the film as suggesting that Andy gets her job at the Sun at the end in part due to her improved attention to her appearance.[143]
In 2013, Weisberger wrote a book sequel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns. However, it did not seem likely that a film adaptation of it, or any sequel, would be made, as two of the film's stars were not eager to do so. Streep reportedly said that she is not interested in making a sequel to the film, and while Hathaway said she would be interested in working with the same people, it would have to be "something totally different".[9] In July 2024, it was reported that Walt Disney Studios was entering early development on a sequel. Frankel was in talks to return as the director, while McKenna and Finerman were set to write the screenplay and produce again, respectively.[144]
The sequel was officially announced and scheduled to be released on May 1, 2026. It reportedly follows Miranda as she navigates her career amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing and faces off against Emily, now a high-ranking executive for a luxury group with advertising funding that Runway needs.[145] Streep, Hathaway, Blunt, and Tucci reprise their roles, with Kenneth Branagh joining as Miranda's husband,[146] and Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B. J. Novak, Simone Ashley, and Pauline Chalamet as new additions.[147]
In 2015, it was reported that BroadwayproducerKevin McCollum had signed a deal two years earlier with Fox to develop some of the films from its back catalog into musicals for the stage. Two he expressed particular interest in were Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and The Devil Wears Prada. Early in 2017, McCollum announced that in partnership with Fox Stage Productions, he was developing a musical version of The Devil Wears Prada (based on both the film and the book). Sir Elton John and Shaina Taub will be writing the score and lyrics for the project with playwright Paul Rudnick, who had written some early scenes for the screenplay,[11] writing the book and lyrics. McCollum did not say when he expected it to premiere but hoped it would eventually play on Broadway.[148]
In July 2019, the show held its first industry-only presentation of the initial reading for the show. It featured Emily Skinner as Miranda, Krystina Alabado as Andy, Heléne Yorke as Emily and Mario Cantone as Nigel.[149] There has been no announcement about future workshops or tryouts before the anticipated Broadway run.[150]
In late September a premiere run was announced for July and August 2020 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago. According to producer Kevin McCollum, it was important to director Anna D. Shapiro, artistic director of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, to have the show premiere there. Afterwards the show is expected to make its Broadway debut; where and when have not been announced.[151]
Ugly Betty is a TV show about an overworked assistant working for a fashion magazine
Notes
↑In a paper comparing the film's plot to the Psyche myth, Janet Brennan Croft of the University of Oklahoma says the speech "subverts the idea that fashion, the ultimate in feminine work, is trivial", a presupposition of Andy's it is Miranda's role to correct, as it is for Aphrodite in the original myth and similar mother-mentor characters in other "heroine's journey" narratives: "Miranda's monologue on the color of Andy’s 'lumpy blue sweater and its place in a vast economic web (which she is quite frank about personally controlling) celebrates feminine power."[19]
↑In 2008, Get Smart outdid Devil's domestic box office but took in far less overseas.[94]
↑Later that year, the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Into the Woods (also starring Streep) outdid Devil's domestic box office but took in far less overseas.[96]
↑Whitty, Stephen; July 29, 2007; "Growing up in public"; The Star-Ledger, Section 4, page 2. "I wanted to illustrate how dangerous it was to not make your own choices ... I had been doing that for far too long"
↑Rozhon, Tracie (March 18, 2008). "Upstairs, Downstairs and Above the Garage". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2016. The term 'personal assistant' has been degraded over the years and is now almost synonymous with the overworked, underpaid heroine of the movie and book The Devil Wears Prada.
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