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Devil Wears Prada producer recalls being told Meryl Streep has 'never been funny a day in her life'

Meryl? In a comedy? Groundbreaking.

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Published on December 7, 2023 07:37PM EST

When you look up "The Range" in the dictionary, you'll find Meryl Streep holding her third Oscar.

A real actor's actor, Streep is synonymous with versatility. But apparently, some folks had forgotten that the woman who gave us Sophie Zawistowski also gave us Madeline Ashton.

On the Hollywood Gold podcast with host Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Oscar-winning producer Wendy Finerman (Forrest Gump) recalls casting for The Devil Wears Prada and the surprisingly controversial choice of Streep as pursed-lip, purse-throwing editrix from the most fashionable circle of Hell, Miranda Priestley.

"And Meryl, people thought we were crazy. I mean, I had people call me up and say, 'Are you out of your mind? She's never been funny a day in her life,'" Finerman says.

"She has been funny and they were wrong," Finerman adds. "But this was clearly a different kind of role for her."

It sure was, but this was also 2006, when Streep was in the middle of her Merlyssaince, taking on a wide range of roles and defying the expectations and imposed limitations of an actress who dared be over 50.

Just before Prada she had appeared in the musical comedy A Prairie Home Companion, the rom com Prime, the fantasy adventure A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the political drama The Manchurian Candidate. If anyone could pull off turning "That's all" into a withering, soul-crushing burn, it was Streep.

So, ignoring clearly bad advice, Finerman said to herself, Take a chance. Hire the greatest living actress.

And the gamble — if one can call giving Meryl Streep a dramatic side-swept bang a gamble — paid off, with Streep earning her 14th Academy Award nomination and the film becoming a modern-day classic.

So much so that The Devil Wears Prada is in vogue yet again, as stars and besties Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reminisced on making the beloved film during their conversation for Variety's Actors on Actors series.

“I remember seeing Meryl come up with 18 different lines on the spot," Hathaway told Blunt. "Stanley Tucci was doing the same, and you. I was just like this kindergartner who was like, 'How are they all so good?'"

If "cerulean" is your trigger word, make sure to check out EW's oral history of The Devil Wears Prada from 2021.

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Devil Wears Prada producer recalls being told Meryl Streep has 'never been funny a day in her life'

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