Some movies are sacred. They come out, they change lives, they become a staple of pop culture, and they simply must be left alone, for the greater good. For a long time, “The Devil Wears Prada” was one of those films.
“That’s a good word. No one has used that word, sacred,” writer Aline Brosh McKenna told TheWrap.
But this week, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” hits theaters everywhere. Picking up 20 years after the first film, it brings fans back to the life and career of Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), and brings Andy herself back to Runway Magazine. With that comes the return of Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci and more from the first film.
Along with its returning stars, the sequel boasts the same director, producer and writer as the first film. And all those returns are part of what made this possible.
“Because I’m working with the same folks, I think it felt less untouchable,” McKenna said.
For almost two decades, even as fans called for it, the idea of a sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” wasn’t something those involved with the project openly entertained. They all regularly expressed their love and gratitude for the 2006 hit, but made it clear that it would take some very specific circumstances to return.
Who could blame them? The film essentially launched Emily Blunt’s career, was a major turning point in Anne Hathaway’s, and proved Meryl Streep’s box office draw. It was just the second feature director David Frankel ever steered, as well as the second feature Aline Brosh McKenna ever wrote, and it walked a long road in getting made.
Then, on a budget of $35 million, “The Devil Wears Prada” grossed $326.6 million worldwide. It even beat out its opening weekend competitor, “Superman Returns,” and became a defining film of the decade in a way that McKenna doesn’t necessarily think could be possible today.
“It became people’s like, It’s on TV, I’ll watch it movie,” McKenna recalled. “And I have some of those, and it’s funny, because that is also a vestige, right? Because now we’re a lot more intentional with our watching, so I don’t know if you can become a hit in that way.”
With that enduring love from fans, both McKenna and Frankel felt like “The Devil Wears Prada” was lightning in a bottle, and the right move was to just “let it be.”
Then a few years ago, McKenna noticed how the worlds of journalism, publishing, media, and fashion have all “become so Darwinian.” It got her thinking about where the characters of “The Devil Wears Prada” would be, and actually interested her from a story standpoint. So, McKenna started nudging Frankel. Then, the duo got word that Streep was willing to hear sequel ideas.
From there, things moved quickly. By the writer’s recollection, she and Frankel met with Streep in May of 2024, and McKenna turned in her script that December.
Just 10 days before McKenna pitched the sequel, Disney appointed David Greenbaum as President of 20th Century Studios. Changeover in leadership could’ve thrown a wrench in things, but instead, the opposite happened.
“He got it so much, like, not just what the story was, but what it could be as an event. And they’ve really made an event,” she said. “And for somebody who writes movies that can feel like side dishes, you know, to be a main course, and to see what the Disney machine — I don’t think that’s insulting to say — the way that they can build and open a movie has been really fascinating.”
By January of 2025, all the actors had read it and were in — McKenna may have screenshotted their excited replies — and filming began in June. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” wrapped in October, and now six months later, it’s in theaters. A quick turnaround, to say the least.
“It’s really to David Frankel’s credit, that [Disney] asked him if he could move it,” McKenna said. “Because it wasn’t supposed to be in our ‘Avengers’ time slot, and they asked him if he could speed it up.”
Indeed, “Avengers: Doomsday” was originally set for a May 1, 2026 release. Now, the Marvel movie will open in theaters on Dec. 18. That left a pretty major tentpole slot open in Disney’s slate.
“And he didn’t even miss a beat,” McKenna continued. “I don’t even think he asked a question. It was such a good date that we just took it.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” may court a pretty different audience than an Avengers film, but it’s certainly a worthy replacement. After all, the film’s core stars are now all either Oscar nominees or winners with their own individual fandom draws.
That could easily put pressure on a writer to up their script game, but McKenna found that returning to these actors was actually easier than her first go-around.
“The main difference is that the first time I was scared to death, just scared to death,” she admitted. “And the idea that I would even be in the same room with Meryl was like (gestures crazily). But, you know, the second I met her, she’s so smart and she’s so welcoming, and it’s not in a performative way. I always say she’s the least disappointing famous person you’ll ever meet, because she’s kind of exactly what you want, and she’s really kind, she’s really supportive, but not in a — she just really understands what writers do.”
Like any movie, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” was fluid when it came to the script, but according to McKenna, the final product onscreen is pretty “remarkably the same” to what she originally pitched, “because we had buy-in from everybody.”
“It definitely evolved in certain respects. But conceptually, the idea of revisiting these folks in these circumstances, hasn’t changed,” she said. “And the idea of what happens if Miranda all of a sudden gets stuck with Andy.”
Those circumstances find Runway Magazine struggling to maintain its influence in the fashion world, and Miranda Priestly (Streep) on her back foot in a world of journalism that is now almost entirely digital. At the start of the film, Andy is now a respected, award-winning journalist, who finds herself out of a job — something she learns via text — as she is literally accepting an award.
In learning of her fate, she goes a bit off the rails during her acceptance speech, and angrily reminds everyone that real journalism still “f–king matters.”
Yes, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” takes full advantage of the PG-13 allotment of one F-Bomb, and it drops from Hathaways’s mouth early, setting the tone and one of the major themes of the movie. It’s a topic that’s close to McKenna’s heart.
At this point, she’s written four projects with journalist protagonists, including “Morning Glory,” starring Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton and Rachel McAdams (the latter of whom, ironically, nearly played Andy Sachs in “The Devil Wears Prada” all those years ago. She turned it down, multiple times).
McKenna’s own son is a journalist, and she noted that Frankel has journalists in his family too.
“It definitely means a lot to me,” she said. “And I think it’s probably the main venue in which people are fighting for survival, and fighting to tell important stories, with now the pressure of monetize.”
“And, you know, the loss of advertising, the loss of cable packages, the loss of physical newspapers, physical media. There’s just been so many challenges. And so I think it’s really interesting from a business standpoint. But it’s also a very joyful movie about humans.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” marks extra joy for McKenna, as it notches the first sequel of her career under her belt — though not for lack of trying.
“I’ve tried to do stuff with ’27 Dresses,’” she said.
The rom-com starring Katherine Heigl and James Marsden was released in 2008, and was a direct result of McKenna’s success with the script for “The Devil Wears Prada.”
“It’s a little complicated, because I would like to know — yeah, that’s one that I think actually could support another iteration. I don’t know what exactly it would be, but, yeah.”
She’s also ready and willing for a “Morning Glory” sequel, should anyone want it.
For now, getting “The Devil Wears Prada 2” over the finish line has been a thrilling experience for the writer, and McKenna is excited to see how fans react to the follow-up they clamored for for years. Will it land with the same resonance as the first? Who knows.
“There’s an afterlife to your work that has nothing to do with you, and it belongs to an audience,” she said. “And I deliberately chose a form of writing where I’m in conversation with other people, they kind of tell you what it is.”
Now, if they tell her that a threequel is what they want, McKenna once again isn’t shutting it down outright.
“Honestly, if these four folks wanted to do anything, I’d be pleased to do it.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is now in theaters everywhere.
The post ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Was ‘Untouchable’ for Years – Here’s How the Sequel Filled an ‘Avengers’-Sized Hole in Disney’s Schedule appeared first on TheWrap.
