MEnter Steven Spielberg invites Hollywood to invest in original stories otherwise there will be nothing left of cinemahere we are with two repechages in the space of two weeks: Michael And The Devil Wears Prada 2. The first is doing very well, the second will follow closely, if not surpass it completely (in Italy the takings are already at 3 million). Both a precise response to the contemporary need for old myths. Of their reassuring being part of us and of a pre-digital past (the first Prada came out a year before the iPhone: pure prehistory).
The differencewith the Michael Jackson biopic, is that the risks to getting Miranda Priestley back on her feet were much greater. Publishing is in fact in free fall. And make ends meet a world in pieces with the more than zero exclusivity of working in a fashion magazine like Runaway it involved a little more effort compared to the photocopy reconstruction of the video of Thriller.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 it will never be a cult, but welcome among us
Solution? The Devil Wears Prada 2 is the inevitable staging of a crisis in which Andy (Anne Hathaway), Miranda (Streep), Emily (Emily Blunt) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) are forced to team up. A dysfunctional team, obviously, forced to face the survival of the brand (and of journalism as a whole) with strategies and twists often in contradiction with the common good (namely Emily, seeking only power). All this on a structural cast of the original film which however fails to replicate the historical significancefrom jokes applicable in any context to legendary tyranny.
And how could he, this time there is an emergency at play that shifts the axis from I am director – you are zero to we are all in the same boat. A change that inevitably sacrifices the ferocity of slavery dynamicsabout which – it is worth remembering – we laughed so much for 20 years that it forced us Hollywood to a sweaty sequel.
Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway). (20th Century Studios)
Fairytale and twilight
But not everything is lost, on the contrary. There are some digs. However the atmosphere of this chapter is softer, even sentimental. In fact, despite the harsh reality of an industry in decline, also underlined by a gray fashion that is more power dressing than ridiculous wonder, The Devil Wears Prada 2 it’s almost an oxymoron: fairy-tale and at the same time twilight.
Navigating by sight among idiot tycoons hunting for editorial empires as flagships (probable), the purchase of an apartment in Manhatta that a journalist could never afford (not even in Sex and the City happened), and the human revelation of the characters (probable, and necessary). Far from being an indigestible mix, something else entirely, with an ending that Meryl herself commented as “beautiful, but impossible for it to last”. In fact, the recovery of the manuscript was more realistic Harry Potterbut really without a competition.
To make us look good – after which film carefully avoid the commodity cafonal of bags and clothes thrown to the eyes, but not as merchandising – it is also Milanthree-quarters set of the adventures of Runaway. From show to show, and with a dinner set in Leonardo’s Last Supper (reconstructed, obviously), the editorial team concludes the fashion week with an event at the Accademia di Brera in which Lady Gaga appears. The only cameo that makes sense, also due to the very tense confrontation with Miranda. Donatella’s, and all the others’, are less effective big names portraits less than a flash.
Meryl Streep (Miranda Priestly) and Stanley Tucci (Nigel). (20th Century Studios)
The Devil Wears Prada 2the plot
A shitstorm hits Runaway right during a mega celebratory evening of the magazine, the blame lies with a propaganda piece on Speed Flasha fast fashion brand. In a quick sequence – which includes Andy’s dismissal from the New York Vanguard while he is receiving an important award of investigative journalism, and the damage control of the president of the Elias-Clarke publishing house, Irv Ravitz, and his son – Miranda’s former assistant is offered a job as senior editor to revive the respectability of the newspaper with important articles.
The surprise addition displeases Mirandawho in addition to not recognizing Andy (but it’s a fake) relegates her to a closet. Having fun underlining that the prestige of his pieces does not translate into clicks. And yet his commitment pays off. When he manages to secure an interview with a prominent heiress played by Lucy Liu, the quotes of Runaway they go up. But the difficulties remain, the life of the newspaper depends increasingly on advertisers. One of which, Dior, is responsible for public relations Emily Chartonnice as always and now in power. Even more so when she gets engaged to the tycoon Benji Barnes, the heiress’ ex-husband (she plays him Justin Theroux).
Meanwhile Andy falls in love with an architect. A man suddenly put on hold when, immediately after Irv’s death, his son could be free of Runaway. In Milan, the location chosen to celebrate the anniversary of the magazine, the plot tightens on trinity Miranda and her former assistantsin a triangulation that reveals a boundless ambitions and frictions never resolved (sorry for one of the most bitter and genuinely ruthless speeches in the film, since it’s about a truth about skills that no one would ever want to hear thrown in their face).
Emily Blunt (Emily Charlton). (20th Century Studios)
The new Miranda Priestly
She is the one who changes the most in these 20 years of scrolling, engagement, clicks and paper sales at a peak. Do people still want a life like his? Yes, but without the troubles of this halved devil who takes Irv’s reprimands, listens to the advertisers’ requests and less than two meters from her office there is an open space of writers who press on her.
The kilometers that separated it from the real editorial office in the first Prada thus become the measure of the dismantling of a legendary status (and perhaps also of empty offices due to staff reductions). Right after the door he still has two assistants, okay, but they weigh on their hiring reasons of inclusiveness and body positivity that he would never have accepted in 2006.
Obviously a sequel to Miranda-I-always-hire-the-same-type-of-skinny-girl couldn’t be done. Even monsters age, and with them the system they supportedmoreover inspired by a more than real one, the reign of Anna Wintour: today very happy, having ended her dominion ridiculed by the book The Devil wears Pradato help support his myth by ending up on the cover of his magazine: advertiser of herself close to Streep/Miranda.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 it’s not Ken Loach, but death
That status, now a mixture of tiredness and disbelief, you can read it both in the more combed haircut of the past and when he forcefully enters the cafeteria where he had never set foot. As well as when she wanders alone in the empty center of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. That is, Miranda knows that her fashion magazine won’t continue for long. That «the lava that comes out of the volcano»image of the irrepressible future as Benji throws it there, is there to overflow.
Meryl Streep (Miranda Priestly). (20th Century Studios)
That summary of beauty, perfection, taste, knowledge of pages and covers that fall vertically in a world that is all about horizontal communication, is no longer needed. Although The Devil Wears Prada 2 it’s not Ken Loach with his couture-clad working-class world, it’s still an unpleasant death.
Ultimately Miranda manages to postpone the end. Not before revealing a certain professional tenderness, especially towards Nigel and the filial relationship with Andy. It is the melancholic legacy of the film, which gives «I love my job, I love my job, I love my job» recited with red eyes switches to “I love my job” sincerely. Ah, the best lines are still all from Emily, who returns to face the fearsome carbohydrates but with a suggestion that is an invitation to friendship.
The cast of The Devil Wears Prada 2
The new chapter introduces new cast entries. Simone Ashleyknown for Bridgertoninterpret BitterMiranda’s number one assistant (number 2 is Caleb Hearon). Kenneth Branagh he is Miranda’s husband, while Justin Theroux plays the rich man who is said to be inspired by Jeff BezosBenji. Lady Gagain the role of herself she recorded three songs for the film’s soundtrack: Runaway, Shape of a Woman And Glamorous Life. Andy’s boyfriend has the face of Patrick Brammall. It is also present from the first film Tracie Thoms as Lily, Andy’s gallery owner friend. Irv’s obnoxious son is played by BJ Novak.