The Devil Wears Prada: 17 Behind-The-Scenes Facts You Never Knew

It was the film that spawned a thousand quotes and memes, and 20 years on, The Devil Wears Prada remains just as iconic as when it arrived on our screens in 2006.

Meryl Streep’s disarmingly spot-on depiction of the fearsome fashion magazine editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly simultaneously inspired and, indeed, discouraged a generation’s dream internship.

With the whole band – including Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci – getting back together for the new sequel, it only felt right to revisit how it all started and uncover a few surprising facts along the way.

Gird your loins, because here are 17 facts about The Devil Wears Prada you probably didn’t know, no matter how many times you’ve rewatched it…

The acerbic humour and distinctive characters are all wrapped up into what made The Devil Wears Prada such a hit, becoming an Oscar-nominated film rather than a standard landfill rom-com, of which there were plenty in the 2000s.

As it happens, that wasn’t always going to be the case.

It was director David Frankel who pushed for a new script to make the film less of a “mean revenge story” with one-dimensional characters, and more of a coming-of-age story with well-rounded central figures.

“What they were [originally] missing was the sharp humour,” The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger told Entertainment Weekly in 2021. “It trended toward what you’d expect from the typical chick flick, like How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days.

“It wouldn’t have been a stretch to see it going in that direction, but [screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna] took it to a whole different level of smart, sharp, irreverent humour.”

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Anne on the receiving end of Meryl’s withering putdowns, but surprisingly, the future Oscar winner wasn’t the original choice to play Andy.

The film’s director previously revealed that The Notebook star Rachel McAdams was offered the role three times before it went to Anne, saying: “The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it.”

Rachel herself has also reflected on turning down the role, which she declined alongside other big roles during a break from acting.

“There’s certainly things like ‘I wish I’d done that’,” she told Bustle in 2023. “I step back and go, ‘That was the right person for that’.”

Kate Hudson was also left kicking herself after turning down the chance to play Andy

“That was a bad call,” she admitted to Capital in 2025. “And it was a timing thing, and I couldn’t do it. I should have made it happen and I didn’t.”

In fact, Anne herself claimed that she was “ninth” pick for the character, after bosses also approached names which reportedly included Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, Juliette Lewis and Claire Danes.

Despite names like Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close, and Catherine Zeta-Jones circling in early studio discussions, We all know that Meryl just is Miranda Priestly.

And it turns out she knew so as well, and it was as early on as reading the script, with Meryl recently disclosing that she initially turned down the role to leverage a higher pay cheque.

“I thought, it’s a great script. And they called me up and made an offer and I said, ‘No, I’m not gonna do it’,” she recalled. “I knew it was gonna be a hit, and I wanted to see if I doubled my ask, and they went right away and said, ‘Sure’.”

She added: “It took me this long to understand that I could do that.”

An extremely Miranda move if you ask us…

Big names like Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close and Catherine Zeta-Jones were all reportedly mentioned in early studio discussions.

Of course, though, the part of Miranda was ultimately always Meryl’s for the taking.

Some of the most memorable moments in The Devil Wears Prada, from the “hideous skirt convention” line to sardonic references to 2000s diet culture, come from Emily’s character.

However, she was actually asked to re-audition for the role after opting for an unfortunate outfit choice during her first try.

Emily previously described how she was originally auditioning for another movie when she was asked if she’d also like to read for “this little thing with Meryl Streep”.

After a “frantic and chaotic” audition – thanks to Emily running late for a flight – she was ultimately asked back by Frankel, with one particular request.

“He said, ‘Look, I would cast you, but the studio was wondering if you could wear something more stylish,’ “ Emily explained.

She added: “To be fair, I was wearing a hoodie and jeans when I auditioned for it.”

It’s heavily rumoured that for the novel, Weisberger drew on her own experiences working as an assistant to Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

For that reason, Frankel told Entertainment Weekly that plenty of people in the fashion world, from designers to models, were reluctant to get involved in the film because they “didn’t want to incur the wrath of Anna”.

“I had enormous trouble finding anyone in the fashion world who’d talk to me, because people were afraid of Anna and Vogue, not wanting to be blackballed,” he admitted.

While Meryl has spoken about her admiration for the Vogue editor, she maintains that Anna Wintour wasn’t the basis of her character in The Devil Wears Prada.

“Do I look like Anna Wintour? And did I act like Anna Wintour? No!” she reiterated at the premiere of the sequel in 2026.

To the surprise of her co-stars, Meryl chose to project Miranda’s dominance not through shouting her lines, but with a distinctive whisper-like delivery – which turned out to be far more effective.

The Mamma Mia! star drew inspiration from two directors she has previously worked with to come up with Miranda’s whisper, Mike Nichols and Clint Eastwood.

“If Mike Nichols and Clint Eastwood had a baby it would be Miranda Priestly,” she told Stephen Colbert.

“Mike would [command the set] sort of with a sly humour. Miranda knows what she’s saying is snide, but she knows it’s kind of funny too. People take [it] as mean, but it’s funny. I think it’s funny.”

“Clint would never raise his voice,” she elaborated. “He would direct and people had to lean forward to hear what he was saying.”

To nail the terrifying and steely Miranda, Meryl fully stepped into editor-in-chief mode – keeping her distance in between takes even when the cameras weren’t rolling to maintain the uneasy chemistry with her co-stars.

Unfortunately, it didn’t make for the most fun of experiences for her.

“It was horrible!” she said in a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing. I was so depressed!”

She recalled: “I said, ‘Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!’ That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!”

To get into character for her role as an intern in The Devil Wears Prada, Anne worked at the luxury auction house Christie’s for a couple of weeks.

During this time, she claimed that her duties included “getting people coffee” and “doing whatever they needed around the office”.

Stanley Tucci plays Runway’s fashion director Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada, and early on, he delivers the film’s iconic “Gird your loins” line, precipitating Miranda’s arrival into the magazine office.

As it turns out, that wasn’t in the script. Stanley tried out a few other phrases – including, apparently the self-invented “Tits in!” – before landing on the final expression. Not bad, considering he only got the call to appear in the film three days before filming.

The role of Nigel was apparently a nightmare to cast, and producers couldn’t find the right actor to play him for months.

That is, until Stanley signed up to the role a mere 72 hours before shooting began.

With a slimline (in Hollywood terms) budget of $35 million, McKenna and Frankel had to axe $10 million worth of shots in order to have enough money to shoot the film’s Paris scenes.

Thankfully, Frankel saved Miranda’s classic line, after it was nearly chopped.

Meanwhile, Anne and Simon Baker were able to film for a weekend in Paris, although Meryl had to stay home and shoot her parts domestically.

Andy’s sulky, unsupportive boyfriend Nate has had a bashing over the years, with screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna even weighing in on the hate. So Nate’s detractors will be relieved that an alternative ending, that saw him and Andy reconcile, was ultimately cut.

“The movie used to end with a slightly more upbeat scene with Nate, more of a reconciliation,” Brosh McKenna explained. “They’re so young and they’re choosing spouses for their life, but we know that 25-year-olds are not in that position…”

“I had written a more conventional ending where they run through the park together or something,” she claimed.

In Meryl’s final scene of the film, Miranda tells Andy: “Everyone wants to be us”.

This was a one-word switch-up from the original script, which read: “Everyone wants to be me.”

Apparently, Meryl the line to reflect more of the entire fashion world, as opposed to one woman within it.

When fans re-discovered a deleted scene that showed Miranda saying thank you (!) to Andy after she saved her from embarrassment at a gala, many expressed their relief that it was left on the cutting room floor.

For some, the scene undercut Miranda’s entire personality, and was an unnecessary grasp at showing a vulnerability to the character that we see accomplished far more effectively elsewhere in the movie.

The Devil Wears Prada is now streaming on Channel 4 and Disney+. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in cinemas now.