Meryl Streep made headlines last month after revealing that her co-star Anne Hathaway consulted producers on the set of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” to avoid featuring models who were too “skeletal.”
“I was struck by how not only beautiful and young — everyone seems young to me — but alarmingly thin the models were,” Streep told Harper’s Bazaar in March. “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’s a stand-up girl.”
In a conversation with Variety at the film’s worldwide premiere in New York, Hathaway explained what prompted her to speak up and open the conversation.
“I had noticed that we had beautiful models on set, and a lot of them were more traditionally model-sized,” she said on the red carpet Monday night. “I knew what the context of the scene was, and I thought the scene would be so much more enjoyable for the audience if we had just a wider range of bodies on display, because all different shapes are beautiful.”
The sequel, backed by greater studio resources than the original, actually filmed sequences during live runway shows at Milan Fashion Week. Hathaway, who drew on the star power she’s accumulated over the past 20 years, credited the film’s producers for quickly adjusting to her request.
“I just went to the producers and I asked that question: ‘Don’t you think the scene would be stronger if we had a more inclusive approach to sizing?’” she recounted. “They looked up and were so sad that they hadn’t thought about it. I think they were so locked in, just kind of going with the flow. But as soon as they saw it, they were the ones who made it happen in like an hour.”
Hathaway concluded, “It all begins with the question, right?”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2,” as with most sequels released in the modern era, features a more diverse cast than its predecessor. New additions include Lucy Liu and “Bridgerton” breakout star Simone Ashley, who says she’s “honored” to be part of a production that “represents women in a real way.” Helen J. Shen, the 26-year-old Chinese-American actor who plays the new assistant to Streep’s Miranda Priestly, credited Hathaway for “leading by osmosis” and helping create a more inclusive set.
“I was so happy to hear that she said that,” Shen said, referring to Hathaway’s conversation with the film’s producers. “Twenty years ago, if I think about this particular movie, I don’t know that I would have gotten cast. To know that there are people out there who maybe think the Runway offices or fashion aren’t for them, I say, hell no.”
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” hits theaters on May 1.
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