It’s a diss worthy of Miranda Priestly.
Meryl Streep says that the popularity of the superhero genre has resulted in films having duller characters — with more clear-cut heroes and villains rather than true shades-of-gray personalties (such as the one she plays in The Devil Wears Prada 2, which opens this weekend).
The Oscar winner was interviewed along with her Prada co-stars Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt on Hits Radio Breakfast Show when interviewer Fleur East asked about seeing Priestly’s softer side in the new film.
“I feel like you get a realistic view,” Streep replied. “I think we tend to Marvel-ize the movies now. We got the villains and we got the good guys, and it’s so boring.”
Continued Streep: “What’s really interesting about life is that some of the heroes are flawed and some of the villains are human and interesting and have their own strengths. So that’s what I like about this [movie]. It’s messier.”
Later, the subject of AI came up and whether Priestly would use it. Streep said her character would not, as she has assistants to do such work for her. This led Hathaway to reveal that she was recently hiring somebody for an unspecified job when every candidate sent back an identical thank you note — apparently all written by ChatGPT.
“The first one arrived and I’m like, ‘That’s so nice and so professional,’” Hathaway recalled. “And then the second one arrived and I’m like, ‘Oh no.’ So I just want to warn you: If you think you’re getting away with something, you might be revealing yourself. It was hilarious.”
Streep seemed rather appalled. “There are so many Anne Hathaways that you’re going to apply to that you can’t write it yourself?” she said. “That would be an absolute killer — nobody on that list gets that job. That’s just tragic, in my opinion. Don’t let the human get away girls. The future is female, so you better hold on.”
Streep recently revealed she doubled her salary on the Disney sequel by originally turning down an offer to return to her iconic role.
“They called me up and they made an offer, and I said, ‘No, not going to do it,’” Streep said during a cast interview with Today. “I knew it was going to be a hit, and I wanted to see if I doubled my ask … And they went right away and said, ‘Sure.’ I thought, I’m 50-60 [years old] — it took me this long to understand that I could do that! They needed me, I felt. I was ready to retire. That was a lesson.”
