Twenty years. It has been roughly two decades since Miranda Priestly looked at a lumpy cerulean sweater and changed how we think about the "cast of The Devil Wears Prada" forever. Honestly, looking back, it's a miracle this movie even worked. On paper, it’s just another "girl moves to the big city" flick, but the chemistry between these actors turned a mid-budget adaptation into a cultural monolith. You’ve probably seen the memes. You’ve definitely seen the outfits. But when you peel back the layers of how this ensemble was actually built, it's clear that the casting director, Ellen Lewis, caught lightning in a bottle.
The movie didn't just give us a great story; it basically redefined the career trajectories of everyone involved. Meryl Streep was already a legend, obviously. But Anne Hathaway? She was the "Princess Diaries" girl trying to prove she had teeth. Emily Blunt was a virtual unknown in Hollywood. Stanley Tucci was the character actor who finally got to be the heart of the room. It’s a weird, perfect mix of veterans and hungry newcomers that shouldn’t have worked, but it did.
The Meryl Streep Factor and the Art of the Whisper
When people talk about the cast of The Devil Wears Prada, the conversation starts and stops with Meryl Streep. It’s unavoidable. But here is what most people get wrong: they think Miranda Priestly was supposed to be a screaming monster. She wasn’t.
Initially, the script had Miranda being much more of a "yeller." Streep, being Streep, decided that a whisper is far more terrifying than a shout. She reportedly took inspiration from Clint Eastwood’s soft-spoken authority and the legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland. She didn't want a caricature of Anna Wintour, even though everyone and their mother knew who the book was based on.
- The Salary Stand-off: Streep actually turned down the first offer. It was too low. In a move that Miranda herself would admire, she told the producers she’d pass, and they doubled the offer to around $4 million.
- The First Table Read: Anne Hathaway recalls that when Meryl opened her mouth for the first line, she didn't bark. She whispered. The entire room went silent. That’s when everyone knew they weren't making a cartoon; they were making a character study.
Streep famously stayed in character throughout the shoot, at least partially. She told Hathaway on the first day, "I think you're perfect for the role. I'm so happy we're going to be working together. That's the last nice thing I'm going to say to you." And it was. That icy distance created a real-world tension that you can feel through the screen.
How Anne Hathaway Almost Missed the Runway
It’s hard to imagine anyone else as Andy Sachs. She’s the audience’s proxy. She’s us. But Hathaway wasn't the first choice. Not even the second. Honestly, she was way down the list.
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Fox 2000, the studio behind the film, desperately wanted Rachel McAdams. Coming off The Notebook and Mean Girls, McAdams was the biggest thing in the world. They offered her the role of Andy multiple times. She turned it down every single time. She wanted to step away from mainstream projects for a bit. Imagine that. The studio also looked at Claire Danes and Juliette Lewis.
Hathaway had to fight. She literally traced the words "Hire Me" in the sand of a zen garden on an executive’s desk after their meeting. When she finally got the call that she landed the role, she was halfway through putting on a shirt. She ran through her apartment screaming. Her performance is the glue. Without her "fish out of water" energy, Miranda is just a bully. With Andy, Miranda becomes a mentor—albeit a terrifying one.
The Breakout: Emily Blunt and the "One for You, One for Me" Rule
If you ask a die-hard fan who their favorite member of the cast of The Devil Wears Prada is, nine times out of ten, they’ll say Emily Blunt.
Blunt was a British actress with a few credits, but nothing massive. She was actually in Los Angeles auditioning for Eragon. She didn't get it. But the casting tape she made for The Devil Wears Prada—done in jeans and a flip-flop—caught eyes. They asked her to do it again, but "more stylish."
She played Emily Charlton with such a brittle, desperate, hilarious edge that she nearly stole the movie. She was supposed to be a stick figure of a person, but Blunt gave her a soul. That "I'm one flu away from my goal weight" line? That was pure gold. Interestingly, her sister Felicity ended up marrying Stanley Tucci years later, which makes the cast feel like a weird, extended family.
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The Supporting Pillars: Tucci and Grenier
Stanley Tucci as Nigel is the moral compass of the film. He’s the one who tells Andy the hard truth: that she isn't "trying," she’s whining. Tucci took a role that could have been a flamboyant stereotype and made it grounded and deeply professional.
Then there’s Adrian Grenier as Nate.
The internet has spent the last five years debating if Nate was the "real villain" of the movie. People get really heated about this. Was he a supportive boyfriend or a whiny anchor dragging Andy down? While Grenier played him as a guy just wanting his girlfriend back, modern audiences see a man who couldn't handle his partner's success. This discourse keeps the film alive in the digital age. It’s not just a fashion movie; it’s a career-vs-life debate that still resonates with anyone working a 9-to-5.
The Impact on the Industry
The film didn't just make money. It grossed $326 million on a $35 million budget. It changed how Hollywood viewed "chick flicks." It proved that a movie led by two women, focusing on professional ambition rather than just finding a husband, could be a global powerhouse.
- Fashion Access: The production had to borrow most of the clothes because the $1 million costume budget (the most expensive in history at the time) wouldn't even cover the handbags.
- The Costume Design: Patricia Field, fresh off Sex and the City, used her connections to get Chanel and Prada to open their archives. Without her, the cast wouldn't have looked like they actually worked at Vogue.
- The Scripting: Aline Brosh McKenna’s script is a masterclass in "show, don't tell." We don't need to be told Miranda is powerful; we see the entire office scatter when the elevator dings.
Why the Cast of The Devil Wears Prada Matters in 2026
We are living in an era of sequels and reboots. There have been rumors about a Devil Wears Prada sequel for years, especially with Disney (who now owns the rights) reportedly moving forward with a script that focuses on Miranda’s career in the decline of traditional magazines.
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The original cast has remained remarkably close. You see them at award shows, leaning into the bits. They know they made something special. It wasn't just a job; it was a shift in the cultural tectonic plates.
The reason we still care about the cast of The Devil Wears Prada is simple: they represented the reality of ambition. Everyone has had a Miranda Priestly in their life. Everyone has felt like Andy, trying to fit into a world they don't understand. And everyone has had an Emily, someone who is better than us at the job but just can't catch a break.
Lessons from the Runway
If you’re looking to apply the "Priestly Method" to your own life—minus the emotional trauma—there are a few takeaways.
- Precision is Power: Miranda never repeated an instruction. She expected excellence as the baseline, not the goal.
- Adaptability: Andy’s success came when she stopped judging the industry and started learning its language.
- Know Your Worth: Meryl Streep’s salary negotiation is a legendary lesson in knowing your market value and refusing to settle.
If you want to dive deeper into the world of mid-2000s cinema, your next step is to watch the 2006 "Behind the Scenes" featurettes. They reveal the technical side of how the cinematography used long lenses to make the office feel claustrophobic. Also, keep an eye on the trades; with a sequel officially in development as of late 2024, seeing which members of the original cast return to the screen will be the biggest fashion news of the year.
Check out the original Lauren Weisberger novel if you want to see how much the movie actually changed. The book version of Miranda is much more of a straightforward villain, whereas the movie cast gave the characters shades of grey that weren't on the page. That nuance is why we’re still talking about it today.