It’s impossible to think about The Devil Wears Prada book-to-screen adaptation without immediately thinking about Meryl Streep’s performance as the glamorous and formidable Miranda Priestly. The Oscar winner brought this powerful and intimidating character to life so perfectly, and in addition to giving us a top-tier performance, she also apparently adjusted one of the more memorable lines in a movie that’s positively brimming with memorable lines.
Near the end of the film, Anne Hathaway‘s character Andy is exhausted and more weary about her job than ever before following a rollercoaster ride of events during the Paris trip. When Miranda talks to her about the tough choices they have to make to get ahead, Andy questions whether she wants to be like Miranda, Streep’s character responds:
Oh don’t be ridiculous, Andrea. Everybody wants this. Everybody wants to be us.
Apparently, that line was just a little bit different, but the change made to it transforms the meaning in a big way.
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In the bonus features on the Devil Wears Prada DVD, there’s a featurette where screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna explains what the original line was, and why Meryl Streep suggested a change to it:
When we had written that scene in the limousine, and I wrote ‘everyone wants to be me’ and when I talked to Meryl she said, ‘You know, that’s not right, I don’t think that’s right, because I actually don’t think that Miranda is very vain,’ which is true, I don’t think that Miranda has a sense of ‘It’s about me,’ I think Miranda has a sense of ‘It’s about this world.’
It wasn’t until the final read-through that Streep delivered the iconic line we see her give just before she puts her sunglasses on and prepares to face the photographers awaiting her arrival:
And then we had our final read through and Meryl got to that line, and she said ‘everyone wants to be us,’ and I said, ‘That’s it. You nailed it. That’s it.’
Honestly, I’m trying to imagine Miranda saying “Everybody wants to be me,” and I really think the impact would’ve been so different. By changing “me” to “us,” the meaning of the statement shifts, as Brosh McKenna pointed out, from Miranda referring to her life specifically, to the seemingly glamorous world they’re living at the center of. I also think the change helps emphasize what Andy is actually walking away from, as she chooses to separate herself from the “us” Miranda is referring to, and not just Miranda.
We’re a little bit over a month away from The Devil Wears Prada 2 arriving on the 2026 movie schedule, and I don’t know about you, but I absolutely can’t wait. Based on the trailer, it’s looking like we’ll be getting even more great scenes and hopefully iconic moments between Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt. I absolutely can’t wait! That’s all.