Anna Wintour finally reveals thoughts on The Devil Wears Prada after almost 20 years
Anna Wintour finally has thoughts on The Devil Wears Prada. (20th Century Fox/Getty)
Anna Wintour finally has thoughts on The Devil Wears Prada. (20th Century Fox/Getty)
She moved at a glacial pace to do so, but former Vogue editor Anna Wintour has finally revealed her thoughts on Meryl Streep’s 2006 hit film The Devil Wears Prada.
The cherished comedy-drama movie sees three-time Oscar winner Streep as Miranda Priestly, the ice-cold editor of New York fashion magazine, Runway. It’s based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who had previously worked as an assistant to Wintour. You do the math.
For almost 20 years Wintour, who stepped back as US Vogue’s editor-in-chief in June after 37 years, offered little response to questions about the film and how she had clearly inspired Streep’s stony character.
That is, until now. During a recent chat with New Yorker editor David Remnick on an episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour podcast, Wintour shared her verdict.
After Remnick remarked that Priestly is perhaps a “cartoonish” version of Wintour, she agreed, describing the character as a “caricature”.
“I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about,” she shared.
“And I think that the fashion industry were very sweetly concerned for me about the film, that it was going to paint me in some kind of difficult light.”
The Devil Wears Prada sees Priestly treat her assistants Andy (Anne Hathaway) and Emily (Emily Blunt) with pure scorn, furiously forcing them to obey her every demand – no matter how absurd or unrealistic.
Yet despite the character not painting Anna Wintour in the best light, the permanently bobbed and shaded editor has concurred that she found the film “highly enjoyable”.
“First of all it was Meryl Streep, which, fantastic… And then I went to see the film, and I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny. Miuccia [Prada] and I talk about it a lot, and I say to her, ‘Well it was really good for you.'”
She praised the film for having “a lot of humour to it,” adding: “It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep. I mean, it was Emily Blunt, [and] they were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”
A fair shot. That’s all.
Since the film’s release, Wintour has avoided sharing her full thoughts on the film. During an interview with Barbara Walters, she did state that she found the film “really entertaining” and was “100 percent behind it”, but her recent comments are probably her most in-depth thoughts on the film to date.
In 2024, at the premiere of the West End musical adaptation of the film starring Vanessa Williams, Wintour told the BBC that it was “for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly”.
The Devil Wears Prada was a critical and commercial hit following its 2006 release, earning two Oscar nominations; one for Meryl Streep in the Best Actress category, and one for Best Costume Design.
A sequel, entitled The Devil Wears Prada 2, filmed over the summer, with Streep, Hathaway and Blunt reprising their roles. It is due for release in May 2026.
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