Lady Gaga’s cameo on “The Devil Wears Prada 2” might be the most effortless casting in the movie. According to Meryl Streep and director David Frankel, getting the singer came down to one well-timed phone call.
During a lively appearance on the U.K. morning show “Heart Breakfast,” Streep revealed that she personally made the ask. “I called her from Islington because I was out to dinner,” Streep explained. “And I thought, I might as well try her.”
“I just said, ‘Would you do this? Because it’s going to be really good.’ And she said, ‘Yeah!’” Streep added, snapping her fingers to emphasize just how quickly it happened.
A Surprise Reaction from Emily Blunt
Streep’s co-star Emily Blunt, who reprises her role in the sequel, seemed genuinely stunned, as the idea that one of the biggest global pop stars could be booked mid-tour with a single call caught her off guard.
© Getty Images for 20th Century StBlunt didn’t hold back. “I think she’s a creative storm,” referencing the singer’s high-energy MAYHEM Ball tour. “She’s playing to 75,000 people in a stadium and just flew off and did us,” she said.
Why Lady Gaga Was the Only Choice
From the director’s perspective, Gaga was essential. In a separate interview with the podcast Back Row, Frankel explained how the script naturally called for a major music presence. “We wrote a pop star into the sequence,” he said. “They’re doing this whole show in Milan, and there was this one line where a pop star does a performance.”
Initially, the studio questioned whether a big-name cameo was necessary. “They said, ‘You don’t really need anybody. Your movies are so interesting without…’” Frankel recalled. But he pushed back. “I said, ‘No, no, no, we need a pop star.’”
The response from the studio was definitive. “We only think one person is worth tapping in the movie—and it’s Gaga.”
© Getty ImagesStreep and Gaga had already met at the SNL50 show, where they quickly bonded. “With Disney’s permission, I called Meryl and asked her to reach out,” Frankel said. “That’s how the ball got rolling.”
From there, Gaga went all in. According to Frankel, she contributed creatively by writing songs specifically for the film. The timing also worked out as production in Milan happened to coincide with Gaga’s tour stop in the same city.
The “Devil Wears Prada 2” is in the theaters worldwide now
Read the full article here
