Meryl Streep is weighing in on the state of modern filmmaking, arguing that the dominance of superhero storytelling has led to less nuanced character work across the industry. As Miranda Priestly puts it in the “Devil Wears Prada” sequel, there’s a shortage of “visionaries” in lieu of “vendors.”
Speaking in a recent interview on the Hits Radio Breakfast Show alongside Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt during “The Devil Wears Prada 2” press tour, Streep criticized what she described as a growing reliance on clear-cut heroes and villains in contemporary movies. “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,” she said, adding that the most compelling storytelling comes from characters who resist easy categorization.
“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,” she continued. “So that’s what I like about this [film]. It’s messier.”
Streep reprises her role as Miranda Priestly in the sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada,” which returns to the world of high fashion two decades after the original. The actor has also recently spoken about renegotiating her compensation for the 2006 original film, revealing she initially declined the offer before returning on revised terms.
“I said, ‘No, not going to do it,’” she said in a separate interview on Today, noting she ultimately returned after the studio agreed to her asking price, doubling her original salary. “They went right away and said, ‘Sure.’ 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.”
The discussion also touched on AI and whether Miranda Priestly would ever use it, another theme the sequel engages with. Streep suggested her character would have no need for it, given that she already has assistants handling that kind of work. That then prompted Hathaway to share a recent hiring experience, saying she was interviewing candidates for an unspecified role when each one followed up with nearly identical thank-you notes — each she suspects was written using ChatGPT.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is now in theaters.
