The Devil Wears Prada

Everybody loves a makeover.

Reality shows like America’s Top Model, American Idol, How Do I Look?, even Clean House, tug a string to our instincts and keep us glued to our boob tube seats because they make our seemingly unreachable dream of possessing beauty into an almost easy reality. But of course, every makeover has a benefactor.

Cinderella had her fairy godmother. Pinocchio had the Wishing Star. I am wishing that Dr. Vicky Belo would be mine. Just kidding.

Movie Review: The Devil Wears Prada

Andrea Sachs is hired to work as the second assistant of the powerful and sophisticated Miranda Priestly, the ruthless and merciless executive of the Runway fashion magazine. Andrea dreams to become a journalist and faces the opportunity as a temporary professional challenge. The first assistant Emily advises Andrea about the behavior and preferences of their cruel boss, and the stylist Nigel helps Andrea to dress more adequately for the environment. Andrea makes a total transformation, but in the process, affecting her private life and the relationship with her boyfriend Nate, her family and friends. In the end, Andrea learns that life is made of difficult choices. And that she has to take that bitter pill.

My Review:

This is a satirical jab at the fashion industry from the perspective of those who take it seriously, and from those who look at it as shallow and trivial. But looking at how much the main character, Andrea, has undergone to overcome her prejudice and her weaknesses, we become involved in her transformation as well. The characters might be caricatures at the start, but the way Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt successfully fleshed out their roles make the movie worth watching again and again with my daughter.

Trivia:

The book that Miranda asks Andy to retrieve for her twin daughters is Harry Potter Book 7. One of the prop books used in the movie sold in an on line auction for $586.00 and proceeds went to Dress for Success, a non-profit organization that assists more than 45,000 disadvantaged women each year as they transition into the workforce.

A 'Runway' issue is displayed behind Emily's desk, next to the fax machine. It features a cover with three models. It is based on the real cover of VOGUE August 2004 issue, featuring Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough.

Helen Mirren and Kim Basinger were considered for the role of Miranda Priestly.

Anne Hathaway prepared for the part by volunteering for a week as an assistant at an auction house.

The idea of having Miranda appear without any make-up in the scene where she opens up to Andrea and worries about the effect of her divorce's public disclosure on her daughters was Meryl Streep's idea.

The first bag we see Miranda carry into the office is, appropriately, a Prada bag.

Anna Wintour, the powerful Vogue editor on whom Streep's character was widely believed to be based in the novel (Weisberger once worked as her assistant), reportedly warned major fashion designers who had been invited to make cameo appearances as themselves in the film that they would be banished from the magazine's pages if they did so. Wintour's spokespeople deny this claim; however, it is notable that Vogue and other major women's and fashion magazines have avoided reviewing or even mentioning the book in their pages.

In the last scene between Miranda and Andy, Andy asks Miranda if the lifestyle that Miranda led wasn't what she wanted. Miranda responds, "Everyone wants this. Everyone wants to be us." The original line was "Everyone wants to be me." However, Meryl Streep did not like this line, finding it too self involved and dramatic. At the table reading of the script, Meryl organically changed the line to "Everyone wants to be us." The line change stuck and was used in the film.

Many fashion designers allowed their clothes and accessories to be used in the film, making it the most expensively-costumed film in history.

Meryl Streep donated her wardrobe to a charity auction.

On the first day of filming, Meryl Streep told Anne Hathaway "I think you're perfect for the role. I'm so happy we're going to be working together." Then she paused and followed it up with "That's the last nice thing I'll say to you." And it was.