‘The Devil Wears Prada’: The movie role that made Meryl Streep miserable
Regarded as one of the finest actors of her generation, Meryl Streep made her first significant steps in the mid-1970s, initially on entering the fiercely competitive world of stage-acting on Broadway. She received widespread acclaim in 1976 after receiving a Tony Award nomination for appearing in a double-bill production of 27 Wagons Full of Cotton and A Memory of Two Mondays.
After nearly five decades of Hollywood success under her belt, Streep remains active today, aged 74. From a record 21 Academy Award nominations, Streep has won three Oscars for her roles in Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice and Out of Africa. However, like all Oscar-winning actors, Streep has had her share of misfortune and regret.
During an appearance on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show, Streep once revealed that Karel Reisz’s 1981 drama The French Lieutenant’s Woman was her worst performance of all. “I’m giving myself an out, but part of it was the structure of it,” Streep told Norton. “It was sort of artificial because I was the actress playing The French Lieutenant’s Woman. At the same time, I was an American actress playing a British woman.”
“I was young and new at this,” Streep added, noting her limited experience at the time. “I didn’t feel like I was living it. You always want to do something better after the fact.”
Fortunately, Streep did do something better. In fact, she moved on from this early role to a more steady streak of highly acclaimed roles over the 1980s and 1990s. Streep has remained remarkably consistent over the past four decades, but one of her greatest boons became a curse.
In 2006, Streep starred in David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada as the devious fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly. Taking cues from some of her Oscar-winning peers, she embraced the controversial method acting approach to get her performance on point.
While the immersive approach produced an Oscar-nominated performance that many critics would cite as the centre of the movie’s appeal, it took its toll on the actor. “It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer,” Streep reflected in a 2021 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I could hear them all rocking and laughing. I was so depressed! I said, ‘Well, it’s the price you pay for being boss!’ That’s the last time I ever attempted a method thing!”
Since the movie’s arrival in 2006, Streep has maintained her enviable acting standards but now opts for less disruptive methods. Watch one of Streep’s memorable scenes from The Devil Wears Prada below.
