Anne Hathaway says Meryl Streep helped and watched out for her on the set of 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Hathaway, who had been mostly known for her breakout role in The Princess Diaries at the time, claimed on RuPaul’s Drag Race that she was the ninth choice for Prada’s protagonist. Reportedly, studio preferences over Hathaway included Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, and Kirsten Dunst, with Fox 2000 asking Rachel McAdams to take the role of Andy three times. Ultimately, with Hathaway as the lead actor, the film went on to gross $124 million and nab two Oscar nominations.
Prada surrounds newcomer Andy Sachs (Hathaway) landing a job at Runway magazine as one of the assistants to its vicious editor-in-chief, Miranda Priestly (argued by some to be Meryl Streep’s greatest performance). It's based on a novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who took inspiration from the six months she spent working for Vogue’s notorious editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour. The novel was so highly anticipated that work on the film started before the book was even released. But the depiction of the fashion world, though fictionalized, didn't sit well with many, making it just about impossible to find folks in the fashion industry willing to cooperate on the film. Though the studio discussed Michelle Pfeiffer, Glenn Close, and Catherine Zeta-Jones for Priestly, Streep’s ability to deliver such iconic lines as "details of your incompetence do not interest me" with the necessary power and cruelty made her the ultimate choice.
Streep was committed to her performance and rarely broke character, even offscreen, but, as Anne Hathaway told EW, she still managed to help guide Hathaway's performance. Costar Emily Blunt noted how Streep would keep in character as Priestly outside of filming, to which Streep decried that she’d spent the day in her trailer, “miserable” at losing out on cast bonding. “I was so depressed!” Streep said. “‘Well, it's the price you pay for being boss!’ That's the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!” But for Hathaway, a cornerstone of her celebrated performance as Andy was that Streep remained resolute and caring even while in character:
I did feel intimidated [by Streep], but I always felt cared for. I knew that whatever she was doing to create that fear, I appreciated [because] I also knew she was watching out for me. There's this scene where [she says], "You're just as disappointing as the rest of those silly girls." I remember when the camera turned on me, the pressure really got to me, and I'd had such emotional fluidity in the day up to that point, but it just wasn't there anymore. I remember having the experience of watching [her] watch me, and [she] altered [her] performance ever so slightly, and just made it a little bit different, and brought more out of me and got me to break through whatever barrier I had.
According to director David Frankel, Streep had seen Hathaway in Brokeback Mountain and immediately met with her. From there, Streep called former Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO Tom Rothman and said, “Yeah, this girl's great, and I think we'll work well together.” Streep's collaborative spirit comes through in even the small details of the movie: according to screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, she wrote a line in which Miranda was supposed to say to Andy, “Everybody wants to be me,” but Streep changed the line to “Everybody wants to be us.”
After 15 years of being both one of the most iconic fashion movies of all time and a landmark in Streep's already jeweled career, Prada’s legacy continues to grow as a story about mentorship both on and off-camera. Talking about the success of the movie, Hathway said, “I think [Prada] set a generation up to decide, well, who am I going to be in the workplace, who am I going to be when I'm a leader?” That Streep managed to mentor and encourage Hathaway while in character as Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada is a testament to her professionalism and shows exactly why she has had such a storied career.
Source: EW