The Devil Wears Prada (film)

Aspiring journalist Andrea "Andy" Sachs has recently graduated from Northwestern University. Despite her lack of knowledge of the fashion industry, she is hired as a junior personal assistant to Miranda Priestly, the notoriously cruel editor-in-chief of Runway magazine in New York City. Andy resolves to tolerate Miranda's abusive treatment until she can use her connections from Runway to find a job more focused on journalism. Andy fits in poorly with her superficial, fashion-forward co-workers, particularly Miranda's senior assistant, Emily Charlton, and struggles to meet Miranda's irrational demands. After Andy fails to arrange for Miranda to be flown back from Miami during a hurricane, Miranda berates her. Andy approaches Runways art director, Nigel, for advice, and he helps her select stylish clothes to wear to work. Noticing Andy's increased commitment to the job, Miranda begins to delegate more important tasks to her. As Andy absorbs the Runway philosophy, she outperforms Emily, who yearns to attend Paris Fashion Week as Miranda's assistant and, in preparation for the event, follows extreme diets that endanger her health. When Emily arrives to work sick and forgets the names of important guests at a charity benefit, Andy steps in to save Miranda from embarrassment. Miranda subsequently selects Andy to accompany her to Paris Fashion Week instead of Emily. As Andy calls Emily to inform her of the change of plan, the latter is hit by a car. While visiting her in the hospital, Andy tells Emily the news; Emily is horrified that Andy accepted Miranda's offer. After she snaps at him, Andy's boyfriend Nate breaks up with her, disappointed that she has become one of the shallow, egotistical women she once ridiculed. In Paris, Andy learns that Miranda's husband has filed for divorce. Later that night, Nigel tells Andy that he has accepted a job as creative director for rising designer James Holt. Andy spends the night with an attractive writer, Christian Thompson, who tells her that Jacqueline Follet (Miranda's counterpart as editor-in-chief at French Runway) is being prepared to replace Miranda. Andy attempts to warn Miranda, but Miranda dismisses her. At a later luncheon, Miranda announces Jacqueline as Holt's new creative director, much to Andy and Nigel's shock. While in a limousine, Miranda reveals that she already knew of the scheme to replace her, and sacrificed Nigel's ambitions to preserve her own job. Andy is repulsed by Miranda's betrayal of her friend, but Miranda points out that Andy did the same thing to Emily by agreeing to accompany Miranda to Paris. Afraid to become the type of person Miranda is, Andy storms off. When Miranda tries calling her, Andy tosses her phone into the Fontaines de la Concorde. Back in New York, Andy meets up with Nate, who tells her he has a new job as a sous-chef in Boston, and they agree to keep in touch. The same day, Andy has an interview at the New York Mirror newspaper. The editor recounts that when he called Runway for a reference, Miranda told him that Andy was the biggest disappointment she had ever had as an assistant, and that he would be an idiot not to hire her. After getting the job, Andy calls Emily and offers her the clothes she obtained in Paris. While walking past the Runway office building, Andy sees Miranda and waves at her. Miranda does not acknowledge Andy, but smiles to herself once seated in her car. == Cast ==

Cameos • Valentino Garavani • Giancarlo Giammetti • Carlos de Souza • Bridget Hall • Lauren Weisberger as the twins' nanny • Robert Verdi as a fashion journalist in Paris who interviews Miranda • Heidi Klum • Nigel Barker == Production ==

Fox bought the rights to Weisberger's novel before the book's prose was finished. Carla Hacken, then the studio's executive vice president, had only seen the first hundred pages of the manuscript and an outline for the rest of the plot. Director David Frankel and producer Wendy Finerman had read The Devil Wears Prada in book proposal form. Frankel recalls the experience as having high stakes, since it was the biggest project they had yet attempted, with barely adequate resources. Writing When the book became a bestseller, elements of the plot were incorporated into the screenplay. Most took their inspiration from the 2001 Ben Stiller film Zoolander, satirizing the fashion industry. At a meeting with Finerman, Frankel said he thought the story unnecessarily punished Miranda. Aline Brosh McKenna, who related her own youthful experiences to the story, produced a draft that struck a balance for Finerman and Frankel, whose notes were incorporated into a final version, rearranging the plot significantly, McKenna consulted with fashion acquaintances to make her screenplay more realistic, made difficult since they did not want to offend Wintour. Weisberger stated that McKenna's draft took it away from the "typical chick flick" direction it was going in. Miranda links the designer fashion in Runways pages and Andy's cerulean blue sweater, criticizing Andy's snobbishness about fashion. The speech became one of the film's most memorable moments. Morwenna Ferrier, in The Guardian, agreed that fashion mattered, even to people who claim to be "oblivious to trends". Mic wrote that the speech functioned as a critique of cultural appropriation. "Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking!" Miranda's sarcastic response to Jocelyn's story suggestion for the floral spring prints has been considered the film's best line. Her casting helped offset the difficulties Wintour's resistance to the film had created. Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, and Scarlett Johansson were considered. Tucci agreed to play Nigel only three days before shooting started. among 150 other actors. Daniel Sunjata had read unenthusiastically for Tucci's part, but then read the Holt part and asked if he could audition for it. Simon Baker auditioned by sending a video of himself, wearing the same self-designed green jacket he has on when he and Andy meet for the first time. Wintour reportedly warned major fashion designers that they would be banished from the magazine if they appeared in the film; Wintour's spokespeople deny the claim. Designers instead helped the production with background information. Other cameos include Heidi Klum as herself and Weisberger as the twins' nanny. Gisele Bündchen agreed to appear if she did not play a model. Filming between takes while shooting a scene in Midtown Manhattan Principal photography took place over 57 days in New York and Paris, The film's budget was initially $35 million and was to only include filming in New York. The director said she was "terrified" before starting her first scene with Streep, who had begun her working relationship with Hathaway by saying first "I think you're perfect for the role and I'm so happy we're going to be working on this together", then warning her that was the last nice thing she would say. The scene where Andy delivers the Book, the mockup of the magazine in progress, was, according to the Dengels totally improvised. While only Valentino Garavani appeared onscreen, many other designers assisted. Frankel recalls that Prada's decision to assist Field "helped her break the ice". The single priciest item was Streep's $100,000 Fred Leighton necklace, Most of the garments onscreen were borrowed; Streep could not eat spaghetti at lunch in one dress so it could be returned clean. Although Field avoids making Streep look like Wintour, she dresses her in plenty of Prada. Field said she did not want people to easily recognize what Miranda was wearing. But, like Wintour and her Vogue predecessor Diana Vreeland, the two gave Miranda a signature look with her white wig and forelock. Blunt and Streep wore their outfit shoes only when they were shown in full, wearing more comfortable footwear like Uggs the rest of the time. Hathaway always wore whatever shoes she had been given. "[She was running] over cobblestone streets like a sure-footed little mountain goat", Blunt recalls. For her, Field chose pieces by Vivienne Westwood and Rick Owens to suggest a taste for funkier, more "underground" clothing. Tucci praised Field's skill in putting ensembles together that were not only stylish but subtly helped him develop his character. Gonchor told ''Women's Wear Daily'' that he had based the set on an online photo of Wintour's office; Wintour had her office redecorated after the movie's release. In 2021, Frankel said Gonchor had managed to sneak into Vogues offices to get a look at Wintour's. "They got it really, really close", Weisberger said. and Andy gets on the subway at the Spring Street station and gets off at 51st Street. Frankel praised Livolsi for making the film's four key montages—the opening credits, Miranda's coat-tossing, Andrea's makeover and the Paris introduction—work. The third was particularly challenging as it uses passing cars and other obstructions to cover Hathaway's changes of outfit. Some scenes were created in the editing room, such as the reception at the museum, where Livolsi wove B-roll footage in to keep the action flowing. His work was balanced with songs by U2 ("City of Blinding Lights", Miranda and Andy in Paris), Madonna ("Vogue" & "Jump", Andrea's fashion montage & her first day on the job, respectively), KT Tunstall ("Suddenly I See", female montage during opening credits), Alanis Morissette ("Crazy", Central Park photo shoot), Bitter:Sweet ("Our Remains," Andy picks up James Holt's sketches for Miranda; Bittersweet Faith, Lily's art show), Azure Ray ("Sleep," following the breakdown of her relationship with Nate), Jamiroquai ("Seven Days in Sunny June," Andy and Christian meet at James Holt's party) among others. Frankel had wanted to use "City of Blinding Lights" in the film after he had used it as a soundtrack to a video montage of Paris scenes he had put together after scouting locations there. == Pre-release and marketing ==

Originally intended just to convince Fox to fund some shooting in Paris, Frankel's sizzle reel led the studio to put a stronger marketing push behind the movie. It moved the release date from February to summer, scheduling it as a lighter alternative audiences could consider to Superman Returns at the end of June 2006, and began to position it as an event movie in and of itself. == Reception ==

, Stanley Tucci, Kate Tucci and Meryl Streep. Valentino can be seen behind and between Stanley and Kate Tucci, and Beatrice Borromeo is partly visible to Stanley Tucci's left. Critical response The Devil Wears Prada received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75%, based on 195 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "A rare film that surpasses the quality of its source novel, this Devil is a witty expose of New York's fashion scene, with Meryl Streep in top form and Anne Hathaway more than holding her own." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale. Initial reviews of the film focused primarily on Streep's performance, praising her for making an extremely unsympathetic character far more complex than she had been in the novel. "With her silver hair and pale skin, her whispery diction as perfect as her posture, Ms. Streep's Miranda inspires both terror and a measure of awe," wrote A. O. Scott in The New York Times. "No longer simply the incarnation of evil, she is now a vision of aristocratic, purposeful and surprisingly human grace." David Edelstein, in New York magazine, criticized the film as "thin", but praised Streep for her "fabulous minimalist performance". J. Hoberman, Edelstein's onetime colleague at The Village Voice, called the movie an improvement on the book and said Streep was "the scariest, most nuanced, funniest movie villainess since Tilda Swinton's nazified White Witch in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Blunt, too, earned some favorable notice. "[She] has many of the movie's best lines and steals nearly every scene she's in," wrote Clifford Pugh in the Houston Chronicle. Other reviewers and fans concurred. While all critics were in agreement about Streep and Blunt, they pointed to other weaknesses, particularly in the story. Reviewers familiar with Weisberger's novel assented to her judgment that McKenna's script greatly improved upon it. Some reviews characterized the film as shallow or lacking thematic depth, emphasizing its surface glamour over its commentary on work, ambition, and power. David Denby in The New Yorker wrote "The Devil Wears Prada tells a familiar story, and it never goes much below the surface of what it has to tell. Still, what a surface!" Denby said Hathaway "suggests, with no more than a panicky sidelong glance, what Weisberger takes pages to describe", Field replied that it was not a documentary. Charla Krupp, executive editor of SHOP, Inc., wrote, "It's the first film I've seen that got it right ... [It] has the nuances of the politics and the tension better than any film—and the backstabbing and sucking-up." Her colleague Ruth La Ferla reported that industry insiders found the fashion in the movie too safe and the beauty too overstated. breaking The Patriot's six-year-old record for the largest take by a movie released that holiday weekend that did not win the weekend; a record that stood until Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs broke it in 2009. During its first week it added $13 million. This led Fox to add 35 more screens the next weekend, the widest domestic distribution the film enjoyed. Although it was never any week's top-grossing film, it remained in the top 10 through July. Its theatrical run continued through December 10, shortly before the DVD release. "The core marketing was definitely to women," Gabler recalls, "but the men didn't resist going to the movie." She felt that male viewers responded favorably because they sought a glimpse inside fashion, and because Miranda "was enjoyable to watch". The release date helped generate word of mouth at holiday gatherings. "They were talking about it, like a summer reading book," said Gabler. while Hathaway exceeded it in 2010 with Alice in Wonderland. Blunt would not be in a higher-grossing film until 2014 with Edge of Tomorrow. It was Tucci's highest-grossing film until Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Anna Wintour , on whom Miranda is supposedly based, was at first skeptical of the film but later came to appreciate it. Anna Wintour attended the film's New York premiere, wearing Prada. Her friend Barbara Amiel reported her as saying that the movie would go straight to DVD. McKenna recalled that Wintour's daughter kept telling her mother that the film got many things right. Wintour's popularity skyrocketed after her portrayal in the film. Streep said she did not base her character on Anna Wintour, but had been inspired by men she had known. In a 2021 retrospective article, director David Frankel related that at a Miami tennis tournament a couple of years after the film's release, Wintour refused to shake his hand. International , English-language regions and Spain (in the same typeface as that used on the poster).|alt=The movie title in Spanish America (El diablo viste a la moda), English and Spanish (El diablo viste de Prada) in the same typeface as that used on the poster Weisberger's novel has been translated into 37 languages, giving the movie a strong potential foreign audience. The international box office delivered 60% of the film's gross. "We did our European premiere at the Venice Film Festival", Gabler says, where the city's gondoliers wore red T-shirts with the film's logo. "So many people around the world were captivated by the glossy fashion world. It was sexy and international." It opened strongly across the rest of Europe, helping it remain atop the overseas charts the whole month. It opened in China at the end of February 2007, taking $2.4 million. The greatest portion of the $201.8 million total international box office came from the United Kingdom, with $26.5 million, followed by Germany with $23.1 million, Italy at $19.3 million and France at $17.9 million. Beyond Europe, the Japanese box office was the highest, at $14.6 million, followed by Australia, at $12.6 million. The Guardians Peter Bradshaw, who found the film "moderately entertaining," took Blunt to task, calling her a "real disappointment ... strained and awkward". In The Independent, Anthony Quinn said Streep "may just have given us a classic here" and concluded that the film was "as snappy and juicy as fresh bubblegum". Awards and nominations In October 2006, Frankel and Weisberger accepted the first Quill Variety Blockbuster Book to Film Award. A committee at the magazine made the nominations and chose the award winner. Editor Peter Bart praised both works, saying that "The Devil Wears Prada is an energetically directed, perfect-fit of a film". The film was honored by the National Board of Review as one of the year's ten best. The American Film Institute gave the film similar recognition. At the Golden Globe Award nominations, the film was in the running for Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) and Supporting Actress (for Blunt). Streep won the Globe for Best Actress (Musical/Comedy). In January 2007, Streep's was nominated for Best Actress by the Screen Actors Guild. At the National Society of Film Critics awards, Streep won Best Supporting Actress both for Devil and A Prairie Home Companion. McKenna earned a nomination from the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Blunt, Field, McKenna and Streep were among the nominees for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, along with makeup artist and hairstylists Nicki Ledermann and Angel de Angelis. Streep received her 14th Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Field received a Best Costume Design nomination. == In other media ==

The film's success led to a proposed American dramedy series meant to air for the 2007–08 season on Fox. However, it never reached a pilot episode. With the video release came renewed interest in Weisberger's novel. It ranked eighth on USA Today's list of 2006 best sellers and was the second most borrowed book in American libraries. The audiobook version was released in October 2006 and quickly made it to third on that medium's fiction best seller list. == Home media ==

The DVD was released on December 12, 2006 with an audio commentary, a humorous five-minute blooper reel, and five featurettes. A Blu-ray Disc was released simultaneously, without the featurettes. Reception Immediately upon its December 12 release, it became the top rental in the United States. It held that spot through the end of the year, adding another $26.5 million to the film's grosses; it dropped out of the top 50 at the end of March, with its grosses almost doubling. The following week it made its debut on the DVD sales charts in third position. By the end of 2007 it had sold nearly 5.6 million units, for a total of $94.4 million in sales. Deleted scenes Among the deleted scenes are some that added background, with commentary by the editor and director. Most were deleted by Livolsi. == Cultural impact and legacy ==

In 2016, Vanity Fair noted how some better-remembered films had been bested by films that have not stood the test of time. It called Superman Returns' win over The Devil Wears Prada the "most ironic" of these victories. In 2025, it was voted for the "Readers' Choice" edition of The New York Times list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century," finishing at number 111. Cast Variety argued that the film had benefited all three of its lead actresses. It had proven that Streep could be a box-office draw by herself, opening doors for her to lead in summer movies such as Mamma Mia! (2008) and Julie & Julia (2009). For Hathaway, it was her first leading role in a film for an adult audience. Subsequent producers were impressed that she had held her own playing opposite Streep, which led to her being cast in more serious roles like Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Les Misérables (2012), for which she won an Oscar. In 2019, reports that Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, then seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, mistreated her staff and making unreasonable demands led some writers to mention Miranda. In 2008, The New York Times wrote that the movie had defined the public image of a personal assistant. Seven years later, Dissent's Francesca Mari pointed to The Devil Wears Prada as the best-known narrative of assistantship. The next year, writing about a proposed change in U.S. federal overtime regulations that threatened that practice, the Times called it the Devil Wears Prada economy". On the film's 10th anniversary, Alyssa Rosenberg wrote in The Washington Post that Miranda anticipated female antiheroines of popular television series like Scandals Olivia Pope and Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Like them, she observes, Miranda competently assumes a position of authority, despite her moral failings, that she must defend against attempts to use her personal life to remove her from it. In doing so, however, "she has zipped herself into a life as regimented and limited as a skintight pencil skirt." Five years later, Mekia Rivas in ''Harper's Bazaar'' faulted the film's portrayal of Miranda and Andy's relationship as reinforcing a false belief that since a young woman may only get one career break, she should take it no matter what she has to put up with from her boss. At the time of the film's release, Rivas noted that "girlbosses" epitomized by Miranda had been seen as potentially revolutionizing the workplace. Rivas described Miranda as "a totally toxic superior who, in the end, was more interested in upholding the status quo than in reinventing it, despite having all the power and authority to do so. She wanted Andy to believe that saying no to her would be the end of her career, even though she knew Andy had all the potential in the world to make it without her or her connections." "Like many instant classics, Prada benefited from perfect timing", Variety's 2016 article observed, attempting to explain the film's enduring appeal. "It marked the beginning of the democratization of the fashion industry—when the masses started to pay attention to the business of what they wore." It credited the movie with helping stir interest in Ugly Betty, an American adaptation of the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea, which debuted months after the film's release. "He mocks her for her new interest in fashion, he trivializes the magazine she works at, and dismisses her hard work", Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2017, collecting some tweets and other posts from social media critical of the character. Many, like the writer of that piece, found it particularly upsetting that he berated Andy for missing his birthday party even though she had a good work-related reason for her absence. McKenna defended the character. "[W]hat people focus on is that he's trying to restrict her ambition," she told EW. "But her ambition is going towards something that she doesn't really believe in, so he has a point." On the film's 15th anniversary, Grenier weighed in. "When that whole thing ... first came out, I couldn't get my head around it." He ultimately came to realize that he had more in common with the character at the time and, like Nate, had not completely matured. "[Now], after taking time to reflect and much deliberation online, I can realize the truth in that perspective ... He couldn't support her like she needed because he was a fragile, wounded boy." Hathaway was more forgiving, pointing out that anyone can be pouty at times. == Themes ==

University of Houston gender studies professor Andrew Joseph Pegoda notes that the film never challenges the arbitrariness and unfairness of female beauty standards, rather presenting them as unchangeable and unchallengeable, even where the women in the film seem to chafe at them. He sees this in the beginning, with Tunstall's "Suddenly I See", its lyrics celebrating the ideal of a beautiful woman over images of Andy and the other women working for Runway getting dressed ("When have we ever seen a movie play a song where standards for male beauty are described?" he asks). Even Miranda is framed by the male gaze when seen for the first time with only her legs visible. He reads the film as suggesting that Andy gets her job at the Mirror at the end in part due to her improved attention to her appearance. == Related projects ==

Sequel In 2013, Weisberger wrote a book sequel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns. However, it did not seem likely that a film adaptation of it, or any sequel, would be made, as two of the film's stars were not eager to do so. Streep reportedly said that she was not interested in a sequel, and while Hathaway said she would be interested in working with the same people, it would have to be "something totally different". The Devil Wears Prada 2 was released on May 1, 2026, by 20th Century Studios. It follows Miranda as she navigates her career and Andy's return to Runway amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing, and reconnects her with Emily, now a high-ranking executive for a luxury group with advertising funding that Runway needs. Streep, Hathaway, Blunt, and Tucci reprise their roles, with Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux, B. J. Novak, Simone Ashley, and Pauline Chalamet joining as new additions. Musical adaptation In 2015, it was reported that Broadway producer Kevin McCollum had signed a deal two years earlier with Fox to develop some of the films from its back catalog into musicals for the stage. Two he expressed particular interest in were Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and The Devil Wears Prada. Early in 2017, McCollum announced that in partnership with Fox Stage Productions, he was developing a musical version of The Devil Wears Prada (based on both the film and the book). Sir Elton John and Shaina Taub will be writing the score and lyrics for the project with playwright Paul Rudnick, who had written some early scenes for the screenplay, In July 2019, the show held its first industry-only presentation of the initial reading for the show. It featured Emily Skinner as Miranda, Krystina Alabado as Andy, Heléne Yorke as Emily and Mario Cantone as Nigel. There has been no announcement about future workshops or tryouts before the anticipated Broadway run. In late September a premiere run was announced for July and August 2020 at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago. According to producer Kevin McCollum, it was important to director Anna D. Shapiro, artistic director of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, to have the show premiere there. Afterwards the show is expected to make its Broadway debut; where and when have not been announced. == See also ==