A Nostalgic Return to Runway
It has been many years since I attended a church service, yet on a recent trip to South Korea, in the conference room of a Four Seasons hotel, I felt that same sense of hopeful worship permeate the air. Not because some religious deity had descended from the heavens (although some would argue that this experience was similar), but because two legendary actresses, whose work has woven itself into the fabric of culture and the hearts of audiences across the world, were about to enter the room to promote a sequel many fans had given up hope of ever seeing splashed across the big screen.
There was an excited energy in the room that was heightened to a fever pitch when the strains of Madonna’s Vogue, now the official anthem of this franchise, began to blare from the speakers. With the calmness of announcing the cast of a high school play, the host called to the stage ‘Meryl Streep in the role of Miranda Priestly’ and ‘Anne Hathaway in the role of Andy Sachs’. And so, the two leading ladies of The Devil Wears Prada 2 glided onto the stage, hugging, holding hands, and embracing each other like two long-lost friends whose message chain of ‘we should catch up!’ had finally led them back to one another.
Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway dancing together on The Devil Wears Prada 2 press tour in South Korea. Image: Getty.
A Press Tour with Star Power
The global The Devil Wears Prada 2 press tour has all the ingredients to command attention, plugging a movie built around outfits and style, and falling at a time when fashion has become the cornerstone of a successful publicity rollout. This, coupled with the fact society is still currently clawing for heaping doses of nostalgia, means this new movie taps into an audience who either vividly remembers watching the original for the first time or cannot remember a time without it.
It’s interesting that at a time when audiences have been bemoaning the influx of sequels, prequels, and reboots (‘are there really no new ideas left?!’ people have shouted into the void, or at least in Instagram comments for many years now), we, the people, have decided to give this particular movie a pass. At least until we see it. That’s how strong our desire to once again be ensconced within the hallways of Runway magazine is.
The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006. Anne Hathaway was 22 when she filmed the first movie. Image: 20th Century Fox.
A New Dynamic Between Meryl and Anne
Herein also lies the interesting part of The Devil Wears Prada 2 tour, because Marvel movies would be shaking in their boots knowing how tightly the details of this movie are being kept under lock and key. As a film journalist who has been in the game for nearly 10 years, I can count on one hand the number of films I have not been able to view in full before interviewing the cast. The Devil Wears Prada 2 now appears on that tiny list.
Thanks to the secrecy and the stakes of this film, I saw firsthand how Anne and Meryl performed like a perfectly in-sync double act on this press tour, all without letting one morsel of the plot points slip.
Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway at The Devil Wears Prada 2 press conference. Image: Getty
This change in their relationship must have been palpable in the room, because as they settled down in their seats, one of the first questions flung their way was to do with their chemistry and how they maintained it for this second film. Anne immediately held up her microphone to answer, but Meryl quickly raised her own mic and cut her off, saying “never mind” in a distinctly Miranda Priestly tone, causing her co-star to throw her head back with laughter.
“There’s your chemistry,” Meryl said with a wink to the crowd, who almost collectively swooned at hearing the iconic film line delivered in person. “I think our chemistry was different in the first one, because we didn’t know each other,” Meryl then continued, turning her head to Anne, who nodded fiercely in agreement.
Reflections on the Original Film
“This film opened so many doors for me, and it gave me so many opportunities,” Anne said about how the movie had changed her life. “It became this anchor for how audiences responded to me, and funnily enough, let me take a lot more risks and make a lot of weird choices in my career, because I have this warm hug to come back to.”
“That thing that you all have in your pocket has changed everything,” Meryl then said in reference to iPhones and the fact that the first movie was released before they existed. “That’s where this film comes in; there is a changing media landscape, and Miranda is challenged on how to keep her business afloat.”
Anne acknowledged that is why, in part, they needed to wait twenty years to make a sequel. “Andy has acquired experience, humility, and confidence. So in order for her to walk back through those doors as a potential partner for Miranda, it would have taken this amount of time for it to feel legitimate,” she said.
A Message of Fun and Meaning
There was one question that I noticed Meryl and Anne had continued to sidestep while on the press tour and Meryl decided to address it while in this room. A question that, until this moment, I too had buried in my notes for our solo interview later that day. A question to do with the theme of the film, and the one timely question it was hoping to answer. Whether it be about career, ageing, or public cancellation, there must be a through line these women have been waiting to speak on.
“I am less interested in making a statement about what the film is about and instead say to come to it looking for fun,” Meryl said, instantly changing my mind about what to expect from this long-awaited sequel. “You can look for the underpinnings of some very serious issues that we are confronting today, of course, but you can also just take from it what you want. Everybody in the family will have a different idea about it.”
A Unique Moment of Transformation
Towards the end of the press conference, an unexpected question was thrown to Meryl about Miranda Pristley’s career trajectory, with one journalist questioning why, in twenty years, the celebrated and feared magazine editor had not received a promotion and was still toiling away in the same role. Out of all the questions that Meryl Streep had prepared herself to answer that day, defending Miranda’s professional career trajectory was clearly not one of them. A moment of silence passed in the room, and then an onstage transformation happened before my very eyes.
There were many times during my day on The Devil Wears Prada 2 press tour where I witnessed Meryl throw out lines as Miranda, but clearly as an actress performing for a captivated audience. This moment, however, was different, and her whole demeanour changed in an instant. Her shoulders straightened, her head was suddenly held higher, and her voice quietly dropped to icy levels that would freeze an Australian ocean on a summer’s day.
It was as if Meryl had invited Miranda on stage to field this particular line of questioning, knowing full well she was perfectly capable of defending herself. “Well, you clearly didn’t watch the movie,” she said slowly, before switching back to the eloquently affordable Meryl, and explaining that in the sequel Miranda is running an evolving media empire, and not stuck in the same old desk job, and wondering when the girl with mysterious ties to Harry Potter who quit while in a foreign country without notice will wander back through her door.
We may still not know much about The Devil Wears Prada 2, but the one thing we do know for sure is that it definitely sounds worth the wait. The Devil Wears Prada 2 will release in cinemas Australia-wide on April 30.
