The Devil Wears Prada director on actresses who rejected role, awkward Anna Wintour moment and why there will never be a sequel

As it turns 15 years old, The Devil Wears Prada has firmly secured itself as one of the cinematic greats.

Starring an inimitable cast of Meryl Streep (Miranda Priestly), Anne Hathaway (Andy Sachs), Emily Blunt (Emily Charlton), and Stanley Tucci (Nigel Kipling), it’s become a quite literally groundbreaking moment in film history.

To celebrate the occasion, Metro.co.uk caught up with director David Frankel who revealed all, from the actresses who were in line to play Andy and why there will never be a sequel, to his awkward moment with Vogue Editor-In-Chief Dame Anna Wintour years later.

While Anne and Andy were a match made in heaven, the actress recently caused shock and horror when she revealed that she was ninth in line for the role – however, that’s not the whole story.

Asked who else was in the running, David laughed: ‘Who wasn’t in the running?!

‘Annie was actually the first choice and one of the last choices. She was the first and only actress I ever met for the part and then negotiations with her bogged down while we were developing the project. And that’s when the studio said, “Well, let’s explore other options.”

‘Rachel McAdams [was who] the studio wanted, I think they offered it to her multiple times, Scarlett Johansson, Kirsten Dunst.

‘[It was] lot of terrific actresses and kind of surprisingly, they all turned us down. And some of them even turned us down after Meryl was involved, it was a bit surprising. And I’m just glad that we circled all the way back to Annie because she was the right one.’

‘She, as a person at that time, she was so close to the character – obviously she’s very beautiful and she’s got a great sense of humour and she’s got extraordinary range as an actress, even as young as she was, and she had starred in movies before so she knew the drill,’ David continued.

‘And she’s very curious, she did her research. The thing that she brought to the movie that I didn’t expect was just a depth of feeling. She did not come in to play it for laughs.’

Meryl, meanwhile, was also a clear top choice for the role of Miranda.

‘I know a lot of the other actresses saw it as a very traditional Cinderella construct and she saw it as potentially something deeper and more revealing about women at work and the nature of ambition and the sacrifice for excellence, and also commentary on the role that fashion plays in the culture. And so she saw it as a way to explore all those themes and at the same time, recognise how entertaining it could be.’

The role of Miranda is famously said to have been based on Vogue’s Anna Wintour and, despite everyone’s best efforts, no one seems to have ever got a straight answer about how she feels about the movie.

While David briefly met the elusive fashion legend at the premiere, nothing much was said between them, with the filmmaker running into her again years later at a tennis match – and having a slightly awkward encounter.

‘After the match was over, as we all stood up, I said, “Excuse me, I just wanted to introduce myself. I directed The Devil Wears Prada,” – and she wanted nothing to do with me,’ he recalled.

However, David added: ‘She’s actually never condemned the film and she’s been in support of all the stars of the movie since then.

‘I think they’ve all been on the cover of Vogue at least once, if not multiple times and it’s a testament to her that, as angry as she was about the novel, she recognised that the movie went a long way in popularising fashion in a new way and it also attracted a lot of new faces into the fashion journalism world.

‘To her credit, anything that’s good for fashion, she’s always been supportive of.’

While the novel penned by Lauren Weisberger shows Miranda to be very much the villain, David wanted things done a little differently for the film.

‘I admired the novel because it really took you behind the scenes of a world that very few people have really gotten a peek at. But for me, women like Anna Wintour are pretty extraordinary people. I’m a huge fan of Anna Wintour, I’m a reader of Vogue, I admire fashion and fashion designers, and people don’t really understand the extraordinary level of creativity and tireless work that goes into creating fashion on a daily basis.

‘I came to the project with a view of Miranda as the heroine of the movie not the villain. Rather than someone to be brought down, she was someone to be lionised and she sets the bar for excellence at work, and she also sets the bar for sacrifice […] I think the reason that character continues to resonate is is that we all have a little bit of Miranda in us.’

Miranda’s role wasn’t the only part that David wasn’t sure about when he approached the movie. In fact, he was a little worried about the entire premise.

‘Most of the movie, it’s really just a character study of these women and Nigel,’ he pointed out. ‘I used to joke that it’s a movie about a girl who gets coffee. For sure we ramp up the tasks but they’re just tasks. It’s coffee and then it’s steak and then it’s the Harry Potter book, it’s “Get me this dress” and “Get me that surfboard” but she’s just an errand girl.

‘We didn’t want to ever exaggerate her role – obviously, it changes when she has to make the decisions about Paris and how she functions when she gets there – but that was always a concern. Can we really make a whole movie about somebody who is relatively not influential in the world? And so that was surprising that, yes you could.’

Despite David’s worries, The Devil Wears Prada ended up being a huge success, grossing an approximate $300million (£212m), and often being revisited by the fans who adore it.

Part of the huge appeal was the fashion, with renowned costume designer Patricia Field outdoing herself.

Asked what the most expensive costumes and scenes were to film, David recalled: ‘Probably the fanciest outfit in the movie is the first makeover of Andy when she reappears in the office wearing head-to-toe Chanel and thigh-high boots and all-black and she looks spectacular.

‘For sure, the dresses that they wear when they go to the big party at the museum – those were something. And I would say the [most expensive] scene would be what we refer to as the coat montage, the bags and the coats that are being flung every time that Miranda walks into the office, those few seconds took an entire day to shoot with Meryl.’

Meanwhile, parts of the film are still debated years later. Who was the real villain? The internet has largely decided it’s not in fact Miranda, but Andy’s boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) for not being supportive of her ventures. For the record, David’s not on board with that theory.

‘We never saw it that way! I always thought Nate came round and he represented a bit of her conscience. In the end, she does acknowledge that side of herself. I like to think they do end up together, at least they gave it another shot. I never saw him as a bad guy at all.’

In the years since the release of The Devil Wears Prada, The #MeToo movement has brought to light completely different issues in the workplace – the widespread sexual harassment and assault that affects women in all industries. If he made it again today, David thinks the film would take that on board.

‘The nature of what it means to be a very demanding boss is definitely evolving dramatically these days,’ he reflected. ‘We’ve seen with some very powerful movie producers for example – rightly there are limits to bad behaviour. Maybe we would be more cognizant of that.’

Despite the success of the film, and the fact that Weisberger has published sequels, the director is firm in that there will never be a follow-up to the film.

‘There was a little bit of talk a couple of times – once after the movie was such a big hit 15 years ago. We all got on a conference call to discuss it and it was easily decided that that was a terrible idea. We had told this story, these characters were very complete in the way that they had appeared in this film and we had no imagination for where the story would go.

‘When Lauren Weisberger did write a sequel that I think picks up with the characters 15 or 20 years later, we reconvened. But we came to the same conclusion that we should just let the movie live as a one off.’

And it has definitely lived on.

15 years later, it’s still a beloved fan favourite, with David admitting: ‘I’m kind of amazed to still be talking about it, to be honest.

‘Obviously I’m proud of it and thrilled but I don’t think you ever expect anything to stick around that long in the culture these days.’

As for whether he’s watched it recently, he confessed: ‘If I happen to be flipping around and I see it for a minute, I’m always intrigued. They’re old friends. I think that’s the way a lot of people view it, you get sucked in. That’s one of the lovely things about the movie – you can pick it up at any point and enjoy it from that point on.

‘Part of it is a testament to the actors, it’s a brilliant screenplay, and it’s great music. It’s like going to a party every time – and who wouldn’t want to do that?’

Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for Anna Wintour for comment.

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