The Eternal Appeal of 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' Star and Internet Boyfriend Stanley Tucci

“If Stanley Tucci were your boyfriend, it would always be the second week of fall. The sun would never set before 8pm, but you would never sweat again.” That’s one of the many quotable lines from an article titled “If Stanley Tucci Were Your Boyfriend”, by Danny Lavery from his sadly-defunct site The Toast. It’s a hilarious article that sells the dream of Tucci, the beloved character actor and negroni connoisseur, as a cosmopolitan man about town with perennially rolled-up sleeves and a collection of cheese knives. “If Stanley Tucci were your boyfriend, it would always be the second week of fall. The sun would never set before 8pm, but you would never sweat again.” It’s evocative stuff, right? And in the 11 years since Lavery wrote it, it’s remained an appealing fantasy, one that fully stirs up the emotional and creative appeal of the Tooch. Now that The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in cinemas, it’s only fair that we revisit one of the internet’s most beloved boyfriends.

There’s something especially sweet about a beloved character actor, one whose put in the work for many years and often been overlooked or underappreciated by audiences, getting their breakout moment. He’s played dock workers, gangsters, chefs, Nazis, and auteurs. He did sexy ads for Levi’s 501 jeans and performed on-stage at Yale. You could ask 20 people where they first saw Tucci and the chances are high they could all name a different thing: from Monkey Shines to A Life Less Ordinary to Murder One. If you were an indie film nerd, you may have seen the works he directed, which featured an ensemble of familiar faces who would appear time and time again under his leadership. But it was the mid-2000s where Tucci emerged from the sidelines and became a definable star, the man who loved pasta and looking good.

In The Devil Wears Prada, he gives one of the all-time great “straight dude playing gay” performances. As Nigel Kipling, Miranda Priestley’s trusty right-hand man, he is sly and sardonic, and as devastating with a one-liner as his boss. As Andrea tries to navigate the nightmare of high-fashion, it’s Nigel who feels like her most human ally, the straight-talking guide who mercifully avoids most of the GBF cliches that the script could have fallen prey to. The film widened his mainstream profile, and the roles kept, well, rolling in. He earned his only Oscar nomination for The Lovely Bones (admittedly in a performance that is not one of his best.) He only grew more prolific after that. Soon, he was in Marvel movies, The Hunger Games, the Transformers franchise, and Disney live-action remakes. There were critically acclaimed dramas in-between, and plenty of TV roles too. His range was undeniable, but the Tucci type soon began to shine through.

What is the Tucci type, you ask? Well, he’s effortlessly charming, of course. Self-effacing without laying it on too thick. Witty but not greedy about the punchline. Appealing but not necessarily relatable, in a good way. Sophisticated. Skilled. Sleeves rolled up. Not every role embodies this, of course. The Tucci type can be tricksy or melancholy. His charisma can be used for evil. But the knowing elegance and intellect he imbues every role with has helped to define his on-screen presence far more than any single role. And it’s bled into his non-acting work too.

Alongside his movie profile, Tucci reinvented himself as a travel and lifestyle guru. Food was long a part of his image, thanks to his directorial debut Big Night, about a pair of Italian immigrant brothers who run a restaurant and make the most sumptuous food ever committed to celluloid. In 2012, he released his first cookbook, influenced by his upbringing. Other books followed, as did a travel series, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. They’re all a delight, a blend of charm and skill wherein Tucci becomes your dream guide for an earthy kind of escapism that wouldn’t have felt out of place in a ’90s rom-com (the kind where Tucci probably would have played the antagonist to Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney.)

Tucci was always a hot dude, and being hot was a part of his image for decades (again, the Levi’s ad), so it’s not all that shocking to see the internet thirst after him as he mixes cocktails for his wife (literary agent Felicity Blunt, who helped to kickstart his writing career.) That lustful quality has only increased as he’s aged into a mighty fine mature internet boyfriend, one who has an insatiable lust for life, food, and well…

I have a theory that Stanley Tucci has endured, and his image becoming only more appealing to the masses, over the past decade or so because we are starved for a time of plenty. We’re all broke, Ozempic has overtaken the already-diluted commodified remnants of body positivity, and uber-muscled internet bros keep telling us to up our protein intakes. The recession has turned mundanities like Uber Eats into luxuries, and a carton of eggs is almost worth its weight in gold. We often turn to monied fantasies during times of hardship, but it’s also true that much of that quickly repulses us. Living vicariously through some millionaire influencer with a wardrobe full of Birkin bags is fun for a while but then you’re overwhelmed by the arrogance of this wastefulness. Stanley Tucci feels like an embodiment of a generous kind of moreness: one where simple pleasures done well (and with money) are elevated to priceless, and everyone is invited. Nobody’s counting calories or feeling guilt, but it’s not greedy. It’s a big bowl of pasta and a warm hug of appreciation.

Am I getting parasocial? Probably, but times are dark and we take the small pleasures where we can get them. There’s something to be said about a leading man whose entire image is of generosity and appetite. Charm and pasta? That’s timeless.