For about a week now, multiple sources have been doing retrospecitves on The Devil Wears Prada. Tomorrow (June 30) marks the 10-year anniversary of the film's release. Initially I didn't think to blog about it, but the more I thought, the more I realized how pivotal the film's success was to Meryl's future filmography.
In partiuclar, there's a great article from Variety where they interview Streep and co-stars Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. Points of interest for me were how Meryl insisted on including a scene which described the fashion industry (my favorite Meryl scene of the film) and one where she has her makeup removed and is without her "armour" (my second favorite).
The June 2006 release of this film started the string of successful projects with summer debuts, which made Meryl a bonafide box-office draw for the first time in her career, while approaching the age of 60. Following Prada we saw Mamma Mia!, Julie & Julia and It's Complicated, all big money-makers. I'd arguably throw Hope Springs in there as well. And even last year's Ricki and the Flash, while not nearly as commercially successful as the others in this list, still well surpassed its budget. By all accounts Florence Foster Jenkins will continue the streak in August.
It's impossible to know the extent to which The Devil Wears Prada solidified projects for Meryl. I remember director Norah Ephron suggesting that Julie & Julia wouldn't have come together without Streep's recent successes. I'm just happy it opened more doors for Meryl, as her continuing to accept plum roles is what's most important for me. Let's hope it keeps going! I'll leave you all with my fav Meryl moment from Prada.
Oh, how Meryl should have won her third for "Devil"! (In a close race with Judi Dench, not Helen Mirren.) Devil is probably my third-favourite Meryl role, following Sophie and Cry. Devil is a movie I can watch (and have watched) over and over. Probably the most watchable of Meryl's movies. I've been reading the other sources' retrospectives and was happy to see you included a write-up. Because you mentioned it, I'll also mention that I finally saw Ricki within the past month. Although I gushed at the first trailer, I was very disappointed with the movie. I'm currently gushing at the trailers I'm seeing for FFJ and hope it won't be a disappointment. Also, thanks for reminding us of Meryl's 67th birthday. I knew she and I were born the same year. I didn't realise I was to-the-day 4 months older than she. Rob in Alberta, Canada.
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