Anne Hathaway has vowed there will be no “stunningly thin” models in The Devil Wears Prada 2, co-star Meryl Streep reveals in a new cover story for Harper’s Bazaar about Hathaway’s upcoming major film next year. The “Les Misérables” Oscar winner has key roles in A24’s “Mother Mary”, the “Prada” sequel and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” by fall.
Unlike the first The Devil Wears Prada movie, where fashion brands were hesitant to have their clothes appear in the movie, which was an unknown wild card, the sequel was filmed with the support of several high-end fashion brands, and the cast attended an actual runway show during Milan Fashion Week. This was a wake-up call for Streep, who was returning to the Oscar-nominated role of Miranda Priestly.
“I was struck by how not only beautiful and young, everyone looked young to me, but also how incredibly thin the models were,” Streep told the magazine about attending the fashion show. “I thought everything had been resolved years ago. Annie figured it out, too, and she communicated that straight to the producers and got a promise that the model for the show that we assembled for the movie wasn’t so skeletal. She’s a stand-up girl.”
Streep admitted that she was “anxious” during filming, as The Devil Wears Prada 2 was such a sensation. Paparazzi and hundreds of fans flocked to the set every day while filming took place in New York City.
“Even though we knew the impact of the first film 20 years ago, I don’t think anyone was prepared for the ambush of goodwill and eager attention that engulfed us,” Streep said. “Police fencing and crowd control were needed. Buses of fans arrived, paparazzi swarmed, and in one case they kept jumping in front of cameras and shots, causing a huge fuss with staff. Annie kept her cool, but I was getting upset.”
The Devil Wears Prada 2 will see Andy Sachs, played by Hathaway, become a features editor at Runway magazine and reconnect with Streep’s editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly. Andy was Miranda’s second assistant in the first film. As the two try to revive the magazine, they come face-to-face with Emily Blunt, Miranda’s former first assistant who now holds a powerful position. Stanley Tucci also returns as Nigel.
“(Hathaway) carried a really heavy burden,” director David Frankel said. “I mean, she’s in every scene in this movie, so she really had to show up day in and day out. And she was tireless and uncomplaining and enthusiastic.”
Frankel added of the sequel, “The characters are obviously 20 years into their careers and in a completely different place, and the media world is in a completely different situation. Andy has had a career in journalism, and it reflects the experience of a lot of people in journalism these days…[The sequel]is a movie about a woman in her 40s…It’s a movie about how you make peace with the world you find, not the world you wish you existed in.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is produced by 20th Century Studios and Disney and will be released in theaters on May 1st. To read Hathaway’s full cover story, visit Harper Bazaar’s website.
