Meryl Streep is a tour de force in pretty much every role, and her performance in "The Devil Wears Prada” was no different.
As the movie approaches its 10th anniversary, we shudder to think that Streep might not have played THE Miranda Priestly because some Hollywood execs would not pay her enough. (Just now, a decade later, fair and equal pay for women actors has finally become a rallying cry.) Looking back on her role in the film in a new interview with Variety, the actress talks about how she almost walked away.
"The offer was, to my mind, slightly, if not insulting, not perhaps reflective of my actual value to the project," Streep said. "There was my 'goodbye moment,' and then they doubled the offer. I was 55, and I had just learned, at a very late date, how to deal on my own behalf."
A true Miranda move. Shame on the executives who failed to notice: A) Streep's incredible star power, and B) The fact that she would (and did) carry the entire movie.
The Variety article also (FINALLY!) reveals the real-life inspiration behind Streep's portrayal of her character, whom most assumed to be based on longtime Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
"The voice I got from Clint Eastwood," the actress said. "He never, ever, ever raises his voice, and everyone has to lean in to listen, and he is automatically the most powerful person in the room. But he is not funny. That I stole from Mike Nichols."
Streep added, "The way the cruelest cutting remark, if it is delivered with a tiny self-amused curlicue of irony, is the most effective instruction, the most memorable correction, because everyone laughs, even the target."
Terrifying. To read the rest of Variety's article, head here.
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