Anne Hathaway said Meryl Streep made a different choice on The Devil Wears Prada 2: she did not stay in character as Miranda Priestly the way she did on the first film. Hathaway, speaking at the April 20 New York City premiere, said Streep no longer had to shout anyone’s name on set and had decided the sequel would not be built around method acting.
The 43-year-old actor said that on the 2006 original, Streep gave up social time with the cast so the atmosphere would feel more like Runway. She said Streep was happy to be around the camera truck and the off-camera jokes, but would also pull back and tell her costars, including Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, “You guys can do it yourselves.” Hathaway said the change this time was simple: Streep chose not to chase the same intensity again.
Hathaway was at the premiere in a red Louis Vuitton gown and said she was trying to stay out of her own head instead of weighing the burden of making a sequel that matches the 2006 film’s reach. “Of course, there’s pressure, of course there’s expectation,” she said, adding that she was grateful to be working with the same team that made the original. That familiarity, she said, kept her from feeling she had to prove anything to a new audience.
The comments add a small but telling detail to a movie that has already turned into an international runway tour. Hathaway and Streep launched the Prada sequel press push on March 30 at Frida Kahlo’s home, La Casa Azul, with Hathaway in a Schiaparelli black ensemble and Streep in a bright red Dolce & Gabbana suit. Streep later appeared at the April 6 Japan premiere in a red-and-white Chanel two-piece suit and skirt with black fringe, while Hathaway wore a black-and-red Valentino gown at Roppongi Hills Arena. Those appearances have kept attention on the film before its release date, with each stop extending the conversation beyond one city and into a broader fashion audience.
That is also where the friction sits. Hathaway said people keep telling her they dreamed bigger because of these characters, and she said the reaction has been huge in New York City as well as in Seoul and Shanghai. The sequel is trading on that memory, but its first big reveal is not a new costume or a new stunt. It is that Streep, who once built Miranda’s chill by staying just out of reach, has now chosen a looser approach. That makes the next question simpler than the old one: whether the movie can still feel like The Devil Wears Prada without the wall Streep once kept between herself and everyone else.
