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1. The movie mentation of The Devil Wears Prada was successful the works earlier the publication adjacent deed shelves. The archetypal 100 pages and an outline were capable to merchantability Fox executives connected the roman-à-clef based connected writer Lauren Weisberger's little stint astatine Vogue arsenic editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's assistant. "I was the archetypal idiosyncratic to work it astatine Fox 2000," Carla Hacken, the studio's erstwhile enforcement vice president, told Variety successful 2016. "I thought Miranda Priestly was 1 of the top villains ever. I retrieve we aggressively went successful and scooped it up." 

The adaption began up of The New York Times Best Seller's 2003 release, but after 4 writers took a stab astatine crafting a nonstop narrative, Aline Brosh McKenna was tasked with creating a caller publication focused connected the sacrifices women marque to determination up the masthead astatine manner magazines. "I wrote a draught beauteous quickly—it took maine astir a month," McKenna told the outlet. "Then I rewrote it based connected everybody's notes."

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2. The lore of Anna Wintour created a batch of difficulties for production. "I had tremendous occupation uncovering anyone successful the manner satellite who'd speech to me, due to the fact that radical were acrophobic of Anna and Vogue, not wanting to beryllium blackballed," McKenna precocious told Entertainment Weekly of her research. "There was 1 idiosyncratic who spoke to me, whose sanction I volition ne'er divulge, who work it and said, 'The radical successful this movie are excessively nice. No 1 successful that satellite is excessively nice. They don't person to be, and they don't person clip to be.' After that, I did a walk to marque everyone a spot busier and meaner."

Wintour's sizable scope made it hard to unafraid locations, manager David Frankel admitted to EW. "The Met Ball meant that the Metropolitan Museum wanted thing to bash with us," helium said. Bryant Park—at the time, the long-running tract of New York Fashion Week—was retired arsenic well. "Even these iconic flat buildings we saw arsenic possibilities for Miranda's apartment, the co-op boards wouldn't fto america in," helium shared. Eventually, they borrowed a five-story Upper East Side municipality location from a person of shaper Wendy Finerman. 

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Barry Wetcher/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

4. The wardrobe presented a unsocial situation arsenic well. Initially, Frankel told EW, they couldn't person immoderate notable designers to lend pieces for the film: "They conscionable didn't privation to incur the wrath of Anna."

Enter legendary costumer Patricia Field, who worked her magic, assembling a lineup of immoderate 150 pieces from Donna Karan, Zac Posen, Rick Owens and, yes, Prada, taking attraction to differentiate Meryl Streep's exacting Miranda Priestly from Wintour. "She borrowed everything; we had to beryllium precise cautious not to devour spaghetti astatine lunch," noted Streep, "because it'd spell down the beforehand and they couldn't instrumentality it!"

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5. And Wintour has astatine slightest a slight sense of wit astir the full thing. Streep sat down with the Vogue head for the manner bible's 125th day issue, sharing her acquisition portraying Wintour's precocious person Katherine Graham in 2017's The Post. Asked astir the astir challenging quality she's ever played, Streep responded, "Oh! I should say..." trailing disconnected arsenic Wintour jumped in. "No, no!" she said with a laugh. "We're not going there, Meryl."

6. And she did be a screening—the aforesaid one, successful fact, arsenic her erstwhile adjutant Weisberger. "It was entertainment," Wintour later told 60 Minutes of the film. "It was not a existent rendition of what happens wrong this magazine." 

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7. Meryl was the lone prime to play Miranda, with workplace VP Hacken admitting to Variety that they hadn't really considered immoderate different actresses. "I don't retrieve thing different than, 'Please God—let it beryllium Meryl,'" she said. When the three-time Oscar winner's cause phoned saying she had work the publication and would conscionable with the director, Hacken placed him connected a little clasp to celebrate. "I was shouting successful my office."

Streep told EW she appreciated the character's toughness and determination not to marque herself little than: "I liked that determination wasn't immoderate backing distant from the horrible parts of her, and the existent scary parts of her had to bash with the information that she didn't effort to ingratiate, which is ever the pistillate emollient successful immoderate concern wherever you privation your way—what my person Carrie Fisher utilized to telephone 'the squeezy and tilty' of it all. [Miranda] didn't bash immoderate of that."

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8. Before accepting the part, Streep made a precise Miranda Priestly-like move. Despite having already collected 2 Oscars and another 11 nominations by that point, Streep hadn't rather mastered the creation of asking for much pay. But this time, she spoke up. "The connection was to my caput slightly, if not insulting, not possibly reflective of my existent worth to the project," she explained to Variety. "There was my 'goodbye moment,' and past they doubled the offer. I was 55, and I had conscionable learned, astatine a precise precocious date, however to woody connected my ain behalf."

9. She had different demands arsenic well. Cautious astir turning Miranda into a caricature, Streep insisted connected 2 scenes: What she called "the concern of fashion," successful which the trendsetter schooled Andy connected her cerulean sweater, and "a country wherever she is without her armor, the unpeeled country successful the edifice room." 

The achromatic hairsbreadth was her creation arsenic well, Streep turning up with her icy locks for a sit-down with the caput of the studio. As manager Frankel recalled to EW, "Meryl channeled Miranda successful that meeting, and determination was nary speech astir the hair; they looked into Meryl's eyes and ne'er said a word."

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10. Anne Hathaway had to enactment harder for her part than assistant Andy toiled for Miranda. Okay, possibly not that hard, but as she enactment it during a February quality on RuPaul's Drag Race, "I was the ninth prime for Devil Wears Prada."

Though Hathaway noted to Variety that she didn't person to audition, "I had to beryllium patient." And launch a full-blown run that included tracing the words "hire me" successful the soil of Hacken's zen garden. When Hathaway finally got the news, she was successful her chamber putting connected a shirt. "I had immoderate buddies over," she told the outlet. "I retrieve moving retired successful my surviving room, fractional dressed, screaming—'I got The Devil Wears Prada! I got The Devil Wears Prada!'"

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11. Fortunately for Hathaway, execs' archetypal prime turned them down. Repeatedly. "We offered it to Rachel McAdams 3 times," manager Frankel told EW of the actress, past filming Fox's The Family Stone. Coming disconnected Mean Girls and The Notebook, McAdams said she didn't privation to dive into different mainstream flick. Said Frankel, "The workplace was determined to person her, and she was determined not to bash it."

Streep—and Hathaway's crook successful the 2005 Oscar victor Brokeback Mountain—helped seal the woody for The Princess Diaries alum. "Meryl watched that country from the movie," Frankel recalled, "she met with her and called up Tom Rothman astatine Fox and said, 'Yeah, this girl's great, and I deliberation we'll enactment good together.'"

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12. Casting the portion of Emily was even much work. Frankel watched much than 100 pistillate audition for the relation of Miranda's unforgiving pb assistant (among them: Tracie Thoms, who yet came backmost and work for Andy's bestie Lily), but it was a casually dressed Emily Blunt that caught his eye. 

Already connected the Fox lot, auditioning for a portion successful the 2006 phantasy movie Eragon, a casting cause asked the Brit to work for The Devil Wears Prada. "But I was rushing for the airport, and I retrieve conscionable being benignant of flustered," Blunt revealed connected The Late Late Show successful May. "So I work it, but I was wearing sweatpants, and I did not look the portion astatine all."

Days later, drowning her sorrows implicit not booking Eragon, Blunt received a telephone from Frankel. "I was successful immoderate dive nine successful London," Blunt elaborate to Variety. "I called him backmost from the bathroom. He said, 'Listen I would person formed you disconnected the tape, but the workplace wants to spot you 1 much time. Can you bash what you did but formal the portion more?'"

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13. She already sounded the part. Though Emily was primitively written arsenic American, erstwhile screenwriter McKenna heard Blunt present the biting one-liners with her British accent, "we went to a java shop, went done the script, and peppered it with Britishisms," McKenna told EW. 

And Blunt deserves full recognition for 1 spot she lifted from a stressed-out mom. "I conjecture I bargain from radical I meet," the histrion explained connected The Howard Stern Show. "Like, I saw a parent speaking to her kid successful a supermarket erstwhile we were shooting that film. And it's a enactment that gets quoted backmost to maine now. She yelled astatine her kid and she benignant of opened and closed her manus and she goes, 'Yeah, I'm proceeding this, and I privation to perceive this.' I went and enactment it successful the movie."

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14. Stanley Tucci besides helped craft some iconic lines. After producers spent months looking for the close acceptable for Runway art manager Nigel, the actor accepted the portion "at the 11th hour," Tucci told EW. Then helium proceeded to nail Nigel's adust humor, even improvising immoderate of the character's astir quotable moments. 

"I emotion the country erstwhile Miranda is archetypal coming up to the bureau and everyone benignant of panics," Tucci reflected to Buzzfeed successful October. "We each kept laughing truthful hard, and David kept throwing retired lines for maine to accidental and 'Gird your loins' was the 1 that made it in." Among the rejects: "'Tits in!'" Tucci shared with EW. "That was 1 I made up, but each clip we laughed."

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15. Of people his favourite memento from the movie is his family, Tucci remaining close enough with costar Blunt to people an invitation to her 2010 wedding to John Krasinski. That's wherever helium reconnected with now-wife Felicity Blunt, he and the literate agent going connected to wed successful 2012 and invited kids Matteo and Emilia. 

But arsenic Tucci recounted to People, helium really met his aboriginal bride astatine the film's 2006 premiere. At the clip helium was inactive joined to precocious woman Kate Tucci, who'd conscionable received her bosom crab diagnosis. "So I did the movie, and she started treatments, and past we had the premiere, and past she was live for 4 much years aft that," helium explained. "And, actually, Felicity—Emily's sister, my wife—she and Kate talked astatine the premiere that nighttime and I person a photograph of them together, which is truthful odd."

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16. Like Hathaway, Thoms remembers the nonstop infinitesimal she got the telephone that she'd beryllium playing Lily, mostly due to the fact that it occurred connected her 30th day successful August 2005. The Rent prima felt reasonably assured successful her audition—"At that constituent successful my career, I had benignant of slipped into this champion person space. So I was like, 'Oh, Lily's easy. That's close successful my wheelhouse'"—but was inactive thrilled erstwhile she received word. 

"I was successful Dartmouth doing a store of a caller play by Alan Ball," she recalled to E! News. And it was successful the cafeteria, implicit lunch, that she got the news. "It was like, 'Hey, truthful you booked Devil Wears Prada. Happy birthday!'" she shared. "It was a bully day memory."

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18. While Thoms had an altogether fantastic experience—"We were each like, 'Oh my god, it's similar we're doing Sex and the City.' We weren't, but it inactive had that precise New York, precise metropolitan, precise trying to beryllium grownup happening astir it"—she does person one regret. 

She had a full program for the Marc Jacobs container that Lily (and Thoms) salivated implicit successful 1 cardinal scene. "I asked the prop section to not amusement maine the purse earlier we were rolling, due to the fact that I wanted the absorption to beryllium genuine," she said. "That, like, gasping and grabbing and 'Gimme, gimme!', that happened due to the fact that that purse was gorgeous."

So gorgeous, successful fact, "I had a full crippled successful my encephalon connected however to support the purse," she admitted to E! News. "And past the country wherever I was going to someway hide to permission the purse successful my trailer, that country got cut. So I ne'er went backmost to enactment to get the purse. It was precise sad."

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19. Meryl was the pistillate who didn't spell to Paris. Initially no one was acceptable to visit the City of Light to seizure footage for the last scenes of Miranda and Andy's big travel to Paris Fashion Week. "I was aghast," Frankel told Variety. But midway done accumulation helium was capable to enactment unneurotic a sizzle reel that convinced the workplace to marque the movie a summertime merchandise with an accrued budget.

Hathaway and Simon Baker (as her other emotion interest, writer Christian) flew to France for 2 days of shooting, but Streep filmed her portions successful New York, the workplace claiming her question would beryllium overmuch excessively pricey. 

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20. Actually, Streep missed retired connected a lot of the fun. Making the prime to afloat measurement into her Miranda demeanor and mostly region herself from immoderate on-set banter "was horrible," the histrion aboriginal reflected to EW. "I could perceive them each rocking and laughing. I was truthful depressed! I said, 'Well, it's the terms you wage for being boss!' That's the past clip I ever attempted a Method thing!"

But before Streep went crystal cold, she gave the briefest of pep talks, Hathaway recalled to People, saying, "I privation you to cognize I deliberation you're going to beryllium great, and I'm truthful blessed to enactment with you...and that's the past bully happening I'm going to accidental to you."

That's all.