It’s been 17 years since The Devil Wears Prada and there’s still so much to the movie that’s left to unpack, on-screen as well as off-screen. Recently, Emily Blunt, who starred as Emily Charlton in the movie, shared some of the most interesting details about the auditioning of the movie at An Evening With…Emily Blunt held at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Per PEOPLE, while Emily Blunt appeared for the auditions of the movie, her sartorial choices were questioned. Discussing about her audition in detail, she said that she was at 20th Century Fox Studios to audition for another when someone inquired whether she had auditioned for this one, which was described by the individual as “just this little thing with Meryl Streep.”
The 40-year-old actress revealed that she was “frantic and chaotic” while reading for the role of Miranda Priestley’s first assistant since she was running late for a flight. She soon got a callback from the film’s director, David Frankel, who asked her to come in for another audition.
According to PEOPLE, Blunt recalled, “He said, ‘Look, I would cast you, but the studio was wondering if you could wear something more stylish’. To be fair, I was wearing a hoodie and jeans when I auditioned for it.”
For the unversed, Blunt’s character in the 2006 hit is also Emily, who goes haywire, trying to live up to the demands and expectations of Miranda, played by Meryl Streep. Her character also juggles to keep Andy Sachs (played by Anne Hathaway), Miranda’s second assistant, in line.
In the interview, Blunt shared that for the role, she kept in mind the hurried vibe that she had for catching her flight during the auditions. It worked to her advantage. However, as per the director, her outfit did not.
Talking about her second audition, which was held in London, The Girl on the Train actress tried to level up her sartorial choices. She recalled it to be “fairly chic.” However, the actress was not sure of the second choice either, assuming it was “awful” as well.
The actress then later revealed that she got the call the very next day that she was cast in The Devil Wears Prada. She shared that she cried upon receiving the news.
She said, “I mean the experience was, it was heaven, that movie was heaven. We had a party. It was just, you can tell it was just exquisitely fun.”
Per PEOPLE, Blunt tried to make her role seem more desperate instead of “cutting” and “ascetic,” since she believed that “desperation is funnier…Well, it was the time of my life.”
Earlier this month, another veritable actress of the movie, Anne Hathaway, reminisced about working in the movie with Emily for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. On December 6, a video was released of the same, in which Emily could be seen asking Anne, “Did we meet before the table read of The Devil Wears Prada? Or was it at the table read?”
To which, Anne replies jocosely, “This is so embarrassing because I remember every second of the first time I met you. I’m so much more into you than you are into me. It’s fine.”
The Princess Diaries actress recalled walking around the neighborhood with Emily while meeting for coffee. Anne said, “I remember walking into the room and meeting you. And I remember instantly just thinking, ‘What a movie star.’ You were shedding stardust.”
Emily also reciprocated the warm feelings, adding, “I didn’t know New York, I didn’t know anyone and you were like the warmest embrace. You were so good to me even though you were a colossal movie star at that time. You treated me like a complete equal to you always.”