Whither Devil Wears Prada? Writers Weigh In

What with The Devil Wears Prada opening last Friday, we put a call out to some of our writer friends to see if they were going to catch the adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s novel over the long weekend. “It’s much like the book in that it’s a light and fun piece,” says Karen Quinn, author of The Ivy Chronicles. “I thought Meryl Streep did a better job of making Miranda a more nuanced and sympathetic character than she was in the book.” Rachel Pine (right), who jokes that The Twins of Tribeca sold “about one million fewer copies” than Prada, agrees: “The movie successfully addressed an area that was missing from the novel. Quite simply, you don’t get to be an Anna Wintour or a Miranda Priestley or a Harvey Weinstein without being really damn good at what you do. The novel never gave Anna/Miranda credit for being anything other than a nasty, demanding boss. The film portrays her as a woman who understands her industry the way any other business leader understands theirs.”

Joshilyn Jackson (left), who’s gearing up for the release of her second novel (Between, Georgia), wasn’t entirely comfortable with the roman a clef aspects of Weisberger’s novel (“the whole idea makes me uncomfortable; it’s a get-out-of-slander free card”), but “I would watch a movie called Meryl Streep Makes Soup, so I went with a bunch of girls and we ate a despicable amount of popcorn. Meryl Streep was note perfect—alert the presses—and I am liking that Anne Hathaway more and more. I paid eight bucks hoping to be entertained for an hour and forty six minutes, and I got every penny’s worth.”

Andi Buchanan (right), who took a break from the tail end of her tour for It’s a Girl: Women Writers on Raising Daughters to watch the movie, wasn’t as impressed. “It was bad, bad, bad,” she reports. “I was thinking it was a bad book that might make a good movie…and I was thinking that even if the movie wasn’t great, it might be the kind of thing that could be so bad it’s good….but, sadly, all of those thoughts were wrong. As my friend Becca said, ‘Given how bad the book was, I didn’t think it possible to say the movie didn’t live up to the book, but it didn’t. Though the one thing the movie did match the book in was tedium.’”

Weisberger’s college buddy Deborah Schoeneman (left) (4% Famous) dubs the film “a surefire summer hit.” She elaborates, “While other bestselling books about Manhattan—Bright Lights, Big City, American Psycho, and Slaves of New York—fell relatively flat as movies, Devil works better on the big screen. The fashion world setting made the story cinematic, even though Patricia Field created some puzzling outfits. Why would Miranda and her assistants all wear all black to the big gala? Not when they have every designer vying to dress them. Newsboy caps? Not at Condé Nast.”

“Despite the fact that both the book and the movie are about clothes and clothes are for the most part dumb, Patricia Field is a brilliant stylist,” says Stephanie Lessing (right), who took a break from going over the final proofs for her new novel, Miss Understanding, to check out the film. “So brilliant I would, if forced, allow her to dress me, too. And therein lies the greater appeal of the movie as opposed to the book: The book doesn’t come close to showcasing the impressive collection of clothes and accessories that appear on screen. Not to mention the most amazing make-up applications on the entire planet.” Some of Stephanie’s favorite highlights follow…

• “The green eye shadow preferred by the first assistant was a real show stopper. So much so that I hardly even remember who played the first assistant. I would have never thought to do such a thing in an office setting, but such is life at Vogue, I mean Runway. Killer, seriously.”

• “The round Chanel handbag with the big number on it. That was a cool bag by any standards; coupled with Andy’s head-to-toe Chanel ensemble, it was actually too distracting in its outfitty-ness. Her clothes were wearing her in that scene: Big no no. I’m surprised Patricia Fields didn’t have the sense to rip Anne Hathaway’s stockings or something to give Andy a bit of an edge. Still, the pocketbook was to die for. It could have been its own movie.”
• “The green coat with the black button that Andy wears when she first starts dressing like a fashion assistant. I might want that one day. All I remember about that scene was something about a subway.”
• “The black power suit that Andy wears when Nigel tells her he landed a new job; the detail on that jacket was impeccable, so impeccable that I doubt anyone cared or not if Nigel got the job. I liked the slightly puffed sleeve and the deep, scooped neck with the plunging portrait collar. And because Nigel liked it too, it was the one time I really felt as though Nigel and I had the potential to become friends. Otherwise I thought he was a total bitch. But that jacket—Oh. My. God.”
• “That black dress Andy wore when they were hanging out in Paris. The one with the full skirt that wasn’t too full because it had that top layer of raised embroidery that kept it in place. That dress floored me. I would so buy it. I mean if I cared.”

As for the more traditionally significant aspects of a motion picture, like plot and characters, Stephanie shrugs, “The book wasn’t funny either, but at least the book wasn’t trying to be funny. Right?”

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