'Devil Wears Prada' Director Reveals A-List Actress Turned Down Anne Hathaway's Role 3 Times

The Devil Wears Prada almost looked very different. The 2006 instant classic starring Meryl Streep as the ice-cold Runway editor Miranda Priestly and Anne Hathaway as her young protégé Andy Sachs almost had a different actress as the protagonist, director David Frankel told Entertainment Weekly as part of a 15-year retrospective on the film. "We offered it to Rachel McAdams three times," Frankel told the outlet. "The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it."

Other actresses considered included Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, and Kirsten Dunst, but Hathaway went above and beyond when it came to getting the role she connected with so deeply. "It spoke to me. It made me feel. It was about a subject that I take very seriously, but in such a wonderfully joyful and lighthearted way," the actress revealed. Former Fox 2000 president Elizabeth Gabler recalled Hathaway "never stopped campaigning" for the part, writing in a former Fox executive's zen garden, "Hire me."

"I patiently waited until it was my turn, and I got the call. It was the easiest yes in the world," Hathaway said of the moment she actually got the part. "I remember the moment I found out I got the part, I just ran screaming through my apartment. I had a bunch of friends over at the time, I just jumped up in the living room and screamed, 'I'm going to be in The Devil Wears Prada!'"

Streep's role as Priestly was equally appealing to the Oscar-winner. "I liked that there wasn't any backing away from the horrible parts of her, and the real scary parts of her had to do with the fact that she didn't try to ingratiate, which is always the female emollient in any situation where you want your way — what my friend Carrie Fisher used to call 'the squeezy and tilty' of it all. [Miranda] didn't do any of that," she told the outlet.

Playing Priestly was no walk in the park, however, as Streep recalled isolating herself from her co-stars to embody the character. "It was horrible! I was [miserable] in my trailer. 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!" she joked.