Anne Hathaway Never Felt Like She Belonged in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
Actor Anne Hathaway starred alongside Meryl Streep in the iconic Devil Wears Prada. But while on set, Hathaway sometimes doubted her own place in the movie. Especially when sharing screen time with Streep.
Anne Hathaway originally wasn’t supposed to be in ‘Devil Wears Prada’
It may be difficult for some to imagine anyone else in Hathaway’s starring role in Devil Wears Prada. But initially, the studio wasn’t too sold on Hathaway, and was trying to get a bigger star at the time to play Andy Sachs.
“We started negotiating with Annie to make a deal, and that didn’t go well with the studio.… We offered it to Rachel McAdams three times. The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it,” Devil director David Frankel once told Entertainment Weekly.
Unlike McAdams, Hathaway was more than excited to play the part, feeling a personal connection with the material. Hathaway’s co-star, Meryl Streep, would also be instrumental in Hathaway getting hired for the job.
“Meryl was eager to make the movie, and she said ‘let me meet with her.’ Brokeback Mountain was about to come out. Annie had a wonderful, small role in that. And Meryl watched that scene from the movie, she met with her and called up Tom Rothman at Fox and said, ‘Yeah, this girl’s great, and I think we’ll work well together,'” Frankel said.
Why Anne Hathaway never felt like she belonged in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’
One of the most exciting opportunities when it came to working on the feature was co-starring alongside veteran actor Meryl Streep. As is the case with many young aspiring actors, Hathaway had always idolized the Oscar-winner. So she was pleased to see that she was just as much of a great human being as she was an actor.
“Knowing her as I do know, as a person, she’s absolutely delightful. I couldn’t say enough nice things about her. She’s really extraordinary and not to become too gushy, but as a woman, she has absolutely done everything I want to and everything I hope to accomplish. She has done it better than anyone,” Hathaway once told MovieWeb.
But performing alongside Streep was as exciting as it was terrifying for Hathaway. So much so that Hathaway didn’t bother trying to raise her performance to Streep’s level.
“No, I never felt like I belonged on Devil,” she said in a 2010 interview with Deadline. “I remember that the best I felt on that movie came where I got out of Meryl’s way with a little bit of grace. But I never felt in any way like I went toe to toe or held my own. It was about trying to just be there , and know when to get out of Meryl’s way.”
Meryl Streep gave Anne Hathaway the cold shoulder while method acting
Streep’s character in Devil had a brutal mean streak to her that the actor dedicated herself to tapping into. To do this, she applied method acting to inhabit the role. This resulted in Streep giving Hathaway the cold shoulder when filming began.
“When I met her she gave me a huge hug,” she once said on The Graham Norton Show (via Glamour). “I’m like, ‘Oh my God, we are going to have the best time on this movie.’ And then she’s like, ‘Ah sweetie, that’s the last time I’m nice to you.'”
According to Hathaway, Streep’s method acting would last for the duration of the movie.
“She then went into her trailer and came out the ice queen and that was really the last I saw of Meryl for months, until we promoted the film,” she recalled.
