Meryl Streep gets candid about beauty standards in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ praising Anne Hathaway

Meryl Streep has nothing but praise for her co-star, Anne Hathaway. In a new interview, Streep discussed their upcoming and awaited film “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” and how she and Hathaway gained access to real fashion shows in Milan Fashion Week. As the two immersed themselves in the current fashion world, they noticed a trend that’s been gaining prominence in recent years. 

Streep discussed modern beauty standards, which she found alarming, and how Hathaway fought to have healthier depictions of beauty available in their film. Streep said in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar that she was “struck by how not only beautiful and young — everyone seems young to me — but alarmingly thin the models were.”

“I thought that all had been addressed years ago. Annie clocked it too, and she made a beeline to the producers about it, securing promises that the models in the show that we were putting together for our film would not be so skeletal!” she said. 

“She’s a stand-up girl,” added Streep.

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The ‘unnerving’ experience of making a film with such a big spotlight

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is one of the most anticipated sequels in recent memory. The original film, which came out in 2006, follows Andy Sachs (Hathaway), a young journalist who starts working as Miranda Priestly’s (Streep) assistant, the CEO of Runway magazine, a fictionalized version of Vogue. The job throws Sachs into the cutthroat world of high fashion in New York, making her question what she wants out of her career and life.

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The sequel picks up years later, and it was shot in New York, under immense media and fan pressure. Streep revealed that she found the experience unnerving. “Even though we were aware of the impact of the first film two decades ago, I think none of us were prepared for the ambush of both goodwill and avid attention that engulfed us,” she said, revealing that sets had police barriers and crowd control. 

“Buses of fans turned up, and paparazzi swarmed and in one case kept jumping in front of the camera and the shot and got in a kerfuffle with crew,” Streep said. “Annie kept her cool, but I was unnerved.”