Sophia Michaels
She nabbed a well-deserved Oscar nomination—just one of many for acclaimed Meryl Streep movies—for her turn as haughty fashion editrix Miranda Priestly, but the legendary actress reportedly vowed to never method act again after the famous role, her The Devil Wears Prada cast mates have revealed.
The film’s stars Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reunited for Variety‘s Actors on Actors series, with the former co-stars connecting over their latest projects (the psychological thriller Eileen and the blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer, respectively) and waxing nostalgic over their fond memories of laughing on set with Stanley Tucci and the rest of the cast and crew.
Blunt, who portrayed the prickly assistant Emily in the ’06 flick, recounted laughing often on set because she had to be “so horrible” to Hathaway, who played the film’s ugly-duckling protagonist, Andy Sachs:
I would laugh all the time because I was so horrible to you most of the time in this movie. And it was your little face — this beautiful, slightly baffled face.
Hathaway called herself “a deer in headlights” during the production, which saw her starring opposite the screen legend Meryl Streep as Miranda’s decidedly unfashionable new assistant. Anne added of her iconic co-star:
You know, I think [Meryl] always wanted to join in on the fun with us. She kept herself so in character.
Streep’s Priestly was a chicly icy and influential magazine editor reportedly modeled after Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Along with an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, the star won the Golden Globe and scored nods from the BAFTAs, Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild for her performance.
During her sit-down with Hathaway, which was uploaded to YouTube, Blunt revealed that Streep swore off “method acting”—a technique utilized by performers to inhabit the psyche of a character, often by remaining “in character” throughout production even in between filming—after playing Miranda because “it made her so miserable” to see the rest of the cast bonding and enjoying themselves on set.
Do you know she’s never done Method acting since? She said it made her so miserable on this one, because we were all having a party on the other side of the set.
Streep previously discussed her decision to use method acting during filming of The Devil Wears Prada, telling Entertainment Weekly how “depressed” she was hearing the rest of the actors “all rocking and laughing” while she siloed herself off to play Miranda.
It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing. I was so depressed! I said, ‘Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!’ That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!
Streep would later eschew method acting in films like the Mamma Mia series and Little Women, as well TV series like Big Little Lies and Only Murders in the Building.
But would she be down for a potential sequel to The Devil Wears Prada? Rumors of a follow-up film have swirled for years, but star Anne Hathaway doesn’t sound too hopeful about a reunion between Miranda, Andy, Emily and the rest of the Runway crew. During a November 2022 appearance on The View, per Entertainment Weekly, the actress said:
It is tempting to think about Andy (Hathaway) and Emily (Emily Blunt) needing to get Miranda (Meryl Streep) her coffee and she’s somewhere in Europe and then along the way they pick up Stanley Tucci in Italy, who’s at a restaurant. It’s tempting, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. They could relaunch it, find some new people and do it.
However, you can always revisit the original: see Meryl do her very last bit of method acting as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, available to stream with a Max subscription.
