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The Devil Wears Prada 2 Cast Revisit the Film Sets of Their Careers

VOGUE JAPAN · ▶ 14:34 · 10 min read
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Overview

Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Stanley Tucci, who reunite for The Devil Wears Prada 2, play a location-guessing game. They're shown stills of places they have filmed and asked to identify the movie. Each correct guess leads into memories of the shoot: a runaway scooter, a freezing desert, a Greek island that smelled of herbs, a frittata filmed in one take. Along the way the four trade teasing remarks about who got invited where.

10 min read
0:36

San Francisco and a scooter in The Princess Diaries

The first image is San Francisco, and Hathaway recognizes it as The Princess Diaries. She says it was one of her first film jobs. The crew put her at the top of a hill with a scooter and told her it was safe, that they had tested it, and that she could use the brake if she got nervous. She says she picked up speed so fast that she hit the brake right away and kept it on all the way down. At the bottom the crew said they thought they had the shot. She agreed immediately, and her castmates joked that it was because she wasn't going to do it again.

Asked what it was like to show Julie Andrews around San Francisco, Hathaway says she didn't personally do that. She calls filming with Andrews "an absolute high water experience" and describes her as "the most magical hug of a human being": generous, warm, friendly, gracious, with remarkable energy. She adds that the two ate corn dogs together "again and again, and again."

2:01

The cold New Mexico desert on Oppenheimer

Tucci guesses wrong on the next image, and Blunt identifies it as Oppenheimer. She believes the location was the Georgia O'Keeffe property, "in the middle of nowhere" in the New Mexico desert. She says she was badly prepared for the winter there and remembers it as bitterly cold. Christopher Nolan, she recalls, refused to wear a big puffy jacket because he wanted to experience the cold with the actors. When she arrived on set in her own puffy jacket, he would ask her to take off her "actor's security blanket." She also calls the setting astonishingly beautiful and describes the New Mexico skies as a vast, "mythic story space" for making that film.

3:06

Skopelos and Pinewood for Mamma Mia!

Streep recognizes the Greek island of Skopelos from Mamma Mia! and remembers running up the famous steps. She thought she could manage it once, and the production had her do it more than once. There is a small chapel at the top, but she says it isn't the one they filmed in. The chapel interior was shot indoors in England.

Asked how the shoot was split between the island and England, Streep says the whole film was made at Pinewood Studios over about three months, and the cast then spent the last three weeks on location shooting the exterior scenes. She describes the island part as "magic," with lots of laughter. What stayed with her most was the smell: wild rosemary, fruit, and herbs growing everywhere, which she noticed every morning when she woke up.

4:32

Queens standing in for Paris in Julie & Julia

The next still is from the film Streep and Tucci made about Julia Child (the transcript renders the title garbled). Neither is sure at first where it was shot. Streep jokes that she never knew where they were because Tucci gave her a martini every night. They conclude that most of it was filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens. Tucci says he had hoped they would spend the whole shoot in Paris, but that didn't happen. They did end up in Paris for about ten days, which they both remember as a great time. They also recall that wherever they were filming, they would go find a restaurant during the lunch break.

5:15

Tucci on working with Streep

Asked what he likes most about working with Streep, Tucci first jokes about skipping the question. He then says he was always an enormous fan and became an even bigger one after getting to know her. Even after several films together, he says he still gets nervous and sometimes asks himself what he is doing there. When he says they aren't very far apart in age, Streep asks if he has turned 60. He says he is 65, and she replies that she is much older than he is. He says he was trying to do her a favor.

The praise continues after a brief interruption. The transcript doesn't make clear whether Tucci is still speaking. Streep is described as playful, funny, and smart, someone who "understands the scene better than anyone." The speaker says they have to remember to act with her rather than just watch her. That is "the great part and the scary part": sometimes they catch themselves watching and then realize it's their turn to speak.

6:29

Buffalo, a fake stumble, and a bear trap in A Quiet Place Part II

Blunt identifies "my husband's movie," A Quiet Place Part II, shot in Buffalo. She credits the grounds crew member, whom she calls Pedro, with building the whole jungle-like set from what had been bare dirt. In the scene, her character has just had a baby, comes through a gate, and sets off an alarm. She jokes that the scenes show John Krasinski must be "a very sick man" because he wrote them.

She says it was about 100 degrees that day. Krasinski asked her to add a fake stumble while running, and she jokes that her knees have never been the same. What she remembers most is Noah Jupe, who played their son. In the shot, which she says Krasinski devised, the camera comes down as the family runs and lands on the bear trap just as the boy steps into it. She says audiences reacted audibly. Jupe had to scream as the trap closed, and Blunt says remembering it "literally chills my blood." She calls his performance that day astonishing.

8:08

Paris, cobblestones, and borrowed shoes in The Devil Wears Prada

All four recognize the next still from The Devil Wears Prada, which was filmed partly in Paris. Blunt points out that she didn't go on the Paris trip. The others tease her about it, including a joke about her not having the budget for an entourage. They also note that another scene with steps was shot somewhere in New York.

Streep says she is amazed at how Hathaway walks, and even runs, in stilettos on cobblestone streets. She says she rewatched the film the night before because her children wanted to finish it before the premiere, and even they remarked on how fast Hathaway was. The group jokes that Hathaway can barely walk barefoot without falling over but is steady in stilettos. Someone adds that she was 22 at the time.

Hathaway says she doesn't have words for what it was like to stand in that vast location while so young and inexperienced. She remembers wearing Louis Vuitton, with gloves chosen by costume designer Patricia Field. The Prada shoes were her own. She explains that sometimes a film's budget doesn't quite stretch, so actors bring some of their favorite accessories. Someone also praises the big crane shot rising up in that scene.

She also recalls lunch at a restaurant she thinks was called "Chez Louis," known for its roast chicken, which she calls the most delicious she'd ever had. She adds that French film crews served beautiful catered lunches. The others add that the lunches came with wine and linen, and someone notes that French crews don't do this anymore.

10:38

Vermont, Long Island, and Lake Como in the sequel

A still from The Devil Wears Prada 2 shows a house meant to be in Vermont. After a moment's uncertainty, they agree it was actually shot on Long Island. Asked for their favorite location in the sequel, the answers are Milan, and in particular Lake Como. Others then point out that they weren't invited to Lake Como. The questioner, realizing they "didn't make the Como cut," jokes about "stepping in it all over the place."

11:31

The unnamed town of Big Night

Tucci recognizes the restaurant exterior from Big Night, the film he co-directed. The exterior was a real building in New Jersey that they dressed up, and everything else was shot on a stage. He explains that he wanted a street that felt like the East Coast, but the film deliberately never names the town or the year. People still claim to know where it takes place, he says, whether Long Island or New Jersey, but he wanted to avoid anything specific that would give audiences preconceived ideas. Someone adds that fans try to find the restaurant. Tucci replies, "Good luck."

12:12

The one-take frittata

One of the others mentions Tucci's book Taste, which tells how he learned to make a frittata for the film. Tucci says a chef taught him. He had planned the scene as a single continuous shot, about five and a half minutes long, which meant the frittata had to come out perfect and look effortless every time. The first pan he tried kept sticking. He then found one pan that "worked every time." The transcript here is fragmentary, but it suggests there were around 17 takes, two stopped partway through, and five kept.

Another cast member says they had discussed the film the night before. Apart from Babette's Feast, they call it the first American film they had seen that centered on making food. They note that audiences have since become obsessed with cooking shows and food culture, which barely existed back then.

13:34

Lightning round

Pleased with their scores, the group asks for a rapid-fire round:

  • Out of Africa: Nairobi.
  • Interstellar: Iceland.
  • Conclave: Tucci's film. Someone teases him about the "very roomy outfit," and someone remarks that "all of Italy looks so much alike."
  • A still with a car that one of them claims as their own film, prompting a comment about loving New Mexico.
  • Adaptation: Streep's film, identified as a ranch location in Acton, California. She spots her own foot in the frame.

Finally, asked where they would like to travel together, one of them answers that Streep has never been to Paris (as transcribed), so they should go there, and adds that everyone should be invited to Paris this time.

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