The hugely successful movie that briefly killed Stanley Tucci’s career: “I couldn’t get a job after that”
There are some films that become immediate classics, almost as though they had always existed and were just waiting for the right time to be released and steal our hearts. After watching them a million times, we feel as though each line of dialogue is ingrained in our memory, with audience members being able to recall the exact tone and intonation of a line or costume worn in any given scene.
It could be The Lord of the Rings or Clueless, but for many, the cult phenomenon of The Devil Wears Prada was one that quickly captured our attention and forever earned its place in the cultural zeitgeist and cinematic hall of fame, with the story of Andy and her lumpy blue sweaters being revered as the peak of storytelling in the 2000s. However, while it might be seen as an undeniable success by its die-hard fans, the success of the film didn’t immediately rub off on Stanley Tucci, with the actor describing his strange career slump after its release.
The Devil Wears Prada is a masterclass in many areas, with a pitch-perfect script that cleverly captures the downfalls of climbing the corporate ladder and the dangers of losing yourself to try and fit in, something that is told through the story of an aspiring writer who tries to get ahead by accepting a job as an assistant for the highly-strung editor of a legendary fashion magazine.
Loosely based on the editor Vogue, the film is endlessly quotable and memorable in the bitchy one-liner comments made by the staff at the magazine and the awe-inducing costume design as Andy undergoes an extreme glow-up to fit in with the fashion experts at Runway. With stellar performance from Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and of course, Stanley Tucci, it quickly became the film of the decade and remains timeless in its appeal.
But while Tucci and many of the cast members have discussed how the production was a career-high and elevated many of their careers, Tucci’s career was not quite met with the same effect, with the actor recently sharing how he was not rewarded in the same way and struggled to find work.
When discussing this, Tucci said, “I couldn’t get a job after that movie. I’m not kidding, just couldn’t. I ended up doing something that was profitable on television that I really loved doing, but I couldn’t get a job. And prior to getting that I was struggling – I had made a lot of movies, I was fine, but it wasn’t like they were knocking down my door. They were already filming Devil Wears Prada when I was cast, so they couldn’t decide who they wanted. But after that, the movie was a big hit, we had such a good time, it was a beautiful movie. But then after that, silence. It’s weird”.
It’s hard to understand why an actor in such a hugely popular movie would not be in high demand immediately after its release, but perhaps this has something to do with how homophobic Hollywood generally is and the fact that Tucci plays a queer character. Perhaps, small-minded casting directors assumed that Tucci was also queer, and given that very few queer characters were present in mainstream media, maybe there weren’t any roles that they assumed he was right for.
Many Hollywood actors have remained closeted for fear that their sexuality would impact their ability to book roles, with many subsequently only being offered roles for queer characters (roles that were especially sparse during the 2000’s). While this is just a hunch, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was the case, but luckily Tucci’s dry spell didn’t last very long and he has made hit after hit ever since.
