The Devil Wears Prada cast reunite to celebrate the film's 15-year anniversary

The cast dish some behind-the-scenes secrets and relive some of the film's most iconic moments

Stanley Tucci, Meryl Streep, Adrian Grenier, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Daniel Sunjata (Cast of "The Devil Wears Prada")
(Image credit: Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic)

It's almost hard to believe that 15 years have gone by since The Devil Wears Prada premiered in 2006. But to mark the momentous occasion, the cast surprised us all with a virtual reunion.

Entertainment Weekly hosted an online reunion for the cast of The Devil Wears Prada, which included appearances from Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and more. As the cast gathered around their screens at home, we were able to hear more behind-the-scenes info, like the shocking revelation that Anne Hathaway was the ninth choice for The Devil Wears Prada. Here's what we learnt...


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The Devil Wears Prada was inspired by the author's experience working at Vogue

The Devil Wears Prada was inspired by the 2003 book of the same title written by Lauren Weisberger. While the movie shows the cutthroat life and environment of high fashion, the book was actually inspired by the author's time working under Anna Wintour—Vogue's editor-in-chief.

During the movie's production, one of the greatest challenges that creatives faced was getting actual fashion designers to talk to them. They feared that they might accidentally step on Anna or Vogue's toes and be "blackballed" from the industry.

"I had enormous trouble finding anyone in the fashion world who'd talk to me, because people were afraid of Anna and Vogue, not wanting to be blackballed," explained screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. 

Only one person was brave enough to reveal a hint of what the environment was truly like.

"There was one person who spoke to me, whose name I will never divulge, who read it and said, 'The people in this movie are too nice. No one in that world is too nice. They don't have to be, and they don't have time to be.' After that, I did a pass to make everyone a bit busier and meaner," added Aline.

Anne Hathaway almost didn't play the lead role

If it had been up to the creators, Rachel McAdams actually would have played the lead, Andy, in the film, but Rachel declined saying she was "determined not to do it." Other actresses considered for the role included Kate Hudson, Natalie Portman, Kirsten Dunst, and Scarlett Johansson. Thanks to Meryl though, Anne ended up landing the role.

"Meryl watched that scene from [Brokeback Mountain], she met with [Anne] and called up Tom Rothman at Fox and said, 'Yeah, this girl's great, and I think we'll work well together,'" director of the movie David Frankel said during the Zoom call.

Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep and actress Anne Hathaway at the photo call for "Devil Wears Prada" during the 32nd American Film Festival of Deauville.

(Image credit: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images)

Meryl Streep didn't want the movie to be a biopic of Anna Wintour

It's hard to imagine the film today without Anne at the center of it, but even harder to picture the movie with anyone but Meryl playing the infamous Miranda.

After reading the script for the film, the actress was interested in the complexity of the character but didn't want it to be a biopic on Anna Wintour.

"I was interested in her position in her company. I wanted to take on the burdens she had to carry, along with having to look nice every day," she told EW.

Other's were quick to chime in about the complexity of Meryl's character and how it was essential to the messaging of the movie.

"[Miranda] gives us a character who a lot of us can aspire to, to be uncompromising, tough, real, honest, to the point, and not have to contort and dance to get your point across without hurting or offending anybody, which I think men have a much easier time with," Emily said during the reunion.

The film has arguably become one of the best book-to-movie adaptations ever, achieving two Oscar nominations.

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Rylee Johnston

Rylee is a U.S. news writer who previously worked for woman&home and My Imperfect Life covering lifestyle, celebrity, and fashion news. Before joining woman&home and My Imperfect Life, Rylee studied journalism at Hofstra University where she explored her interests in world politics and magazine writing. From there, she dabbled in freelance writing covering fashion and beauty e-commerce for outlets such as the TODAY show, American Spa Magazine, First for Women, and Woman’s World.