It is one of her most iconic roles from her unparalleled 45-year film career.
But making The Devil Wears Prada wasn’t exactly a walk in the park for Meryl Streep.
The veteran actress shared some surprising revelations to Entertainment Weekly on Monday, ahead of the 15th anniversary of the film.
The three-time Oscar winner, 71, explained that she was in fact ‘depressed’ playing Miranda Priestly, a.k.a. the titular Devil in the brilliant comedy film that costarred Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt.
To help her get into character, the Kramer Vs. Kramer star said she attempted method acting – a practice famously employed by other performers such as Daniel Day Lewis and Dennis Hopper – which had her embody the icy character both on and off camera.
‘It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer,’ Meryl recollected about staying separate from the other actors. ‘I could hear them all rocking and laughing. I was so depressed! I said, “Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!”
‘That’s the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!’ the star – who is often referred to as the greatest actress of her generation – added.
And in spite of her tough time embodying the character – said to be modeled after Vogue editor Anna Wintour – the role netted Meryl her 14th Oscar nomination.
Astonishingly, the Adaptation actress has been nominated 21 times, having won the golden boy thrice.
Meanwhile, Hathaway, 38, told the outlet that Streep’s decision to maintain her fearsome character even while the cameras weren’t rolling did make her ‘feel intimidated.’
‘But I always felt cared for,’ the Les Miserables star added.
‘I knew that whatever she was doing to create that fear, I appreciated [because] I also knew she was watching out for me,’ Anne shared.
‘There’s this scene where [Streep says], “You’re just as disappointing as the rest of those silly girls,”‘ she continued.
‘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 [Meryl] 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,’ Hathaway concluded.
The EW retrospective on the film, based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger, divulged some other surprising details – namely that Hathaway was nowhere near the top choice to play lead character Andy Sachs.
Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel revealed that the studio’s top choice, Rachel McAdams, had absolutely no interest in the part.
Even as Anne Hathaway tirelessly pursued being cast as the leading lady, Frankel, 62, recalled McAdams, who had just starred in Mean Girls and The Notebook, just kept saying no.
He quipped: ‘The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it.’
Meanwhile, Hathaway refused to take ‘no’ for an answer as she met with Elizabeth Gabler, then the head of Fox 2000 studio, to discuss ‘why she had to play this role.’
Gabler praised Hathaway for her persistent ‘campaigning’ and divulged the actress left a hilarious message for Carla Hacken [Fox executive] in her Zen garden, which read: ‘Hire me.’
