Meryl Streep Almost Didn't Land 'The Devil Wears Prada' Cuz People Didn't Think She Was Funny

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | December 9, 2023 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | December 9, 2023 |

Meryl Streep is pitch-perfect in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada. Her icy performance as the Anna Wintour-coded Miranda Priestly earned her rave reviews and a record-breaking 14th Oscar nomination. But, according to the film’s producer, Wendy Finerman, Meryl almost didn’t land the part. Wendy recently went on the Hollywood Gold podcast and revealed that some people didn’t think Meryl had the comedy chops to pull off the role:

“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.’”

Exsqueeze me? Had these poor fools never seen Death Becomes Her? She-Devil? Postcards from the Edge? For shame! Wendy goes on to confirm what we all know: Meryl’s critics were so, so wrong:

“She has been funny and they were wrong but this was clearly a different kind of role for her.”

Listen, I’m gonna guess that a good chunk of these Meryl haters were men. Remember, this was back in the mid-aughts, when “are women funny?” was a legitimate question people were allowed to ask and not get stones thrown at them (rot in hell, Jerry Lewis).

The late Christopher Hitchens was so convinced that we females sucked at comedy, he wrote a 2007 Vanity Fair piece that was titled, “Why Women Aren’t Funny”. Now, to be fair, Christopher was big enough to admit that there were some “impressive ladies out there,” but most of them were “hefty or dykey or Jewish, or some combo of the three.” Oh. Dear. Jesus.

Anyway, back to Meryl (you’re welcome). Wendy says casting Meryl “was part of the fun of the unexpected.” She recalls going over to the actress’ house, which was filled with binders of ideas for the movie:

“(Streep) calls me and says ‘Wendy, what else do you have? Where’s the whole thing?’ She’s amazing,” Finerman said.

“She stayed in character the entire time. She made it very clear that she makes her choices and she sticks with them,” Finerman said, adding that Streep chose the now-iconic gray wig for the role even though the studio had “some reservations about it.”

Always trust in the Meryl. You think just anybody could deliver the line “Why is no one reeeady?” in such a uniquely hilarious way?