Even if you haven’t seen the movie, you already know that Meryl Streep’s iconic performance as Miranda Priestly has long thought to have been based on exiting Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
Anna is notoriously reticent about pretty much everything — how else do you think she gained such an intimidating reputation? — and that has largely included The Devil Wears Prada. Last year, she attended the film’s West End musical adaptation in London and told the BBC that it’s “for the audience and for the people I work with to decide if there are any similarities between me and Miranda Priestly” — a non-answer if there ever was one.
So it was a bit of a surprise when, during a recent appearance on The Run-Through With Vogue podcast, Anna went deep when it came to her initial reaction to the film.
“Well, I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about,” she said. “And I think that the fashion industry [were] very sweetly concerned for me about the film that it was gonna paint me in some kind of difficult light.”
Anna went on to refer to Meryl’s performance as a “caricature” — but! She also had some high praise for one of the acting GOATs, as well as the film in general.
“But first of all, it was Meryl Streep, which — fantastic,” she said. “I found it highly enjoyable and very funny. It had a lot of humor to it. It had a lot of wit. It had Meryl Streep [and] Emily Blunt. They were all amazing. In the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”
The podcast’s host David Remnick also asked Anna about the film’s notorious line, “By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me” — and her response was very Anna Wintour-esque.
“Nobody at Vogue moves at a glacial pace, least of all my assistants.”
OK then! You can listen to the entire interview here.
