It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Meryl Streep playing the iconic Miranda Priestly in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada.
However, producer Wendy Finerman recently said on the Hollywood Gold podcast that the Oscar-winning actress was nearly passed over for the role since someone working in the production thought “she has never been funny a day in her life.”
“And Meryl, people thought we were crazy, Finerman told host Daniela Taplin Lundberg. “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 has been funny and they were wrong,” the producer added, to which Lundberg referenced Streep’s comical roles in films such as She-Devil and Death Becomes Her.
“But this was clearly a different kind of world for her,” the producer acknowledged since Streep was known for her more serious performances at the time, including in Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, One True Thing and Music of the Heart. Though Finerman thought the role of Miranda “was part of the fun of the unexpected.”
Everything ended up working out in the end, as Streep went on to score an Academy Award nomination for best leading actress for her role as the demanding editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine.
As for other castmembers in the David Frankel-directed movie, Finerman said producers “knew” they wanted Anne Hathaway to play Andy Sachs, a smart but sensible new graduate who lands a job as Miranda’s assistant, because “she’s a real all-American girl.”
The Devil Wears Prada is currently streaming on Max.
