It has been revealed Meryl Streep almost never got her iconic role in The Devil Wears Prada after someone on the production team made quite a cutting comment about the 74-year-old’s acting ability.
Talking on the Hollywood Gold podcast, the film’s producer, Wendy Finerman, said that Meryl Streep was almost never hired after someone called her ‘unfunny.’ This is despite Anne Hathaway bagging her role, as they “knew” they wanted her.
Meryl Streep was almost never in The Devil Wears Prada
During her chat on the podcast episode, Wendy, who also worked on Forrest Gump and P.S. I Love You, said they always wanted Anne because she was “a good, all-American girl” but had to fight to keep Meryl in the movie.
“[With] Meryl, people thought we were crazy,” the producer explained. “I mean, I had people call me up and say, ‘Are you out of your mind? She’s never been funny a day in her life.”
She continued by saying that the role of Miranda Priestly being “different” than the ones the celebrity usually played was “part of the fun.”
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“But this was clearly a different kind of world for her, and I think that that was part of the fun of the unexpected.”
Meryl was ‘depressed’ on set
Meryl Streep has previously said she attempted method acting on the set of The Devil Wears Prada, where an actor lives like the character they are playing in order to get a better, more believable performance.
However, she said that it made her “depressed.”
“It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing,” she said. “I was so depressed! I said, ‘Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!” she explained.
“That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!”
Anne Hathaway was ‘intimidated’ by Meryl on set
Anne, 41, said that she was “intimidated” by the Oscar winner during filming. However, she knew Meryl was doing it for the purpose of her role.
The Batman: Dark Knight Rises star explained: “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.”
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