Meryl Streep almost never played Miranda Priestly.
As part of a group interview with The Devil Wears Prada 2 castmates Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, Streep appeared on Today to talk about her decision to appear in the original 2006 film.
“I knew it was going to be a hit,” Streep told host Jenna Bush Hager (who also had a cameo in “The Devil Wears Prada 2”). “I read the script. The script was great. They called me and made me an offer. And I said, ‘No, I won’t do it.'” Streep said she foresaw the film’s success and wanted to be paid accordingly. “I wanted to see if I had asked for double, and they went right over and said, ‘Of course.’
Recalling this decision, Streep said, “I’m 56 years old. It took me this long to realize I could do it! I was sure of it. I was sure it would be a hit. And they needed me, I felt. And I wanted it, but if they didn’t want it, I was fine. I was old, so at 56, I was ready to retire.”
It was a lesson well learned (and one that Streep may have applied to her on-screen performance as the steely editor-in-chief). Streep may have been ready to retire before Prada, but the years that followed were surprisingly fruitful, including her third Oscar win for 2012’s The Iron Lady. The Devil Wears Prada, for which Streep was nominated for an Oscar, along with subsequent films such as Mamma Mia!, would become box office successes and catapult Streep to a new status of fame. And “It’s Complicated” continues to do well. The sequel, which will be released 20 years after the first film, marks Streep’s first live-action film role in five years, indicating the possibility of a further comeback.
