50 Things You Never Knew About the Filming of 'The Devil Wears Prada'

The movie is based on a book written by Lauren Weisberger, the former assistant to the editor-in-chief of Vogue, Anna Wintour. 

At first they tried to adapt the film straight from the book, going through four writers trying to do so. Then they realized they needed to manipulate the story for film. "If you study the book," said Carla Hacken, "There is not a strong narrative that propels the plot forward. That required quite a bit of invention and trial and error. And since there wasn't a strong third act in the book, we needed to invent that."

"It seemed undirectable to me," said Frankel. "It was a satire rather than a love story."

"Miranda was a witch, and Andy's motivation was to get her revenge," said Frankel. "There was a lot of conflict that ended with Miranda being humiliated. I felt that wasn't satisfying. My view was that we should be grateful for excellence. Why do the excellent people have to be nice?"

She was mentioned in the book for giving Miranda a Christmas present. 

Lennon had to turn down the role due to conflicts with filming Reno 911.

The production team apparently felt she wasn't fit to play the part. 

The crew decided that Lewis wasn't quite right for the role.

Sykes is now a writer and was a former assistant to Anna Wintour. 

Emily was in Los Angeles auditioning for Eragon when Prada auditions were taking place. At the last minute, her agent put her on a tape for Prada. She flew home thinking all of her auditions were unsuccessful. But Frankel loved her, and called her house to offer her the part. Her mom picked up and said she was out at a bar (she was upset about the audition). "I was in some dive club in London," Blunt said. "I called him back from the bathroom. He said, 'Listen I would have cast you off the tape, but the studio wants to see you one more time. Can you do what you did but dress the part more?'"

Prior to The Devil Wears Prada, Anne starred in Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries. This role helped to shift the direction of her career. 

Following her major success in The Notebook and Mean Girls, the team pushed hard for McAdams. She turned them down, saying that she wanted to take a break from mainstream material. 

Right after her meeting with the Executive Vice President of Fox, Anne wrote the words in the sand of a zen garden to express her passion for the role. 

In Ella Enchanted and The Princess Diaries, Anne's best friend's character was also named Lily.

In a moment of true desperation, the directors and producers sent Fox a sizzle reel to convince them to fund the trip. Thankfully, it was met with a positive response, and they were able to fly to Paris.