Miranda Priestly shall return with her trademark shades in the long-awaited sequel to The Devil Wears Prada.
Disney is reportedly working on the follow-up to the 2006 surprise hit, with original screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna getting on board to write the sequel. Director David Frankel and producer Wendy Finerman are also speculated to return.
Several details hint that the sequel will center on Priestly's transition away from traditional publishing and leaning on the financial leverage of her former assistant-turned-powerful fashion executive, Emily Charlton.
With that note, the premise for the new Devil Wears Prada movie welcomes the third-ever faceoff between Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt. The A-list actresses have reunited for two different projects, coincidentally both Disney musicals and both directed by Rob Marshall.
The first is 2014’s Into the Woods. Based on the Stephen Sondheim musical, the film retells and combines several popular Grimm Brothers’ fairytales, but it puts a dark twist on each of them. Blunt plays the Baker’s Wife, who wishes for a baby. Streep plays a Witch who places a curse on the Baker family that stops them from having a baby.
The first half revolves around Baker and his wife, who find several items to create a potion that stops the Witch’s curse. Streep’s Witch remains antagonistic to the Baker and his wife, even till the end. However, Blunt’s wife also faces an unlucky fate.
Into the Woods received a modest reception at the box office, and critics were moderately positive about the film. Though, it continuously divides Disney and even Sondheim fans.
However, it became the golden ticket for Rob Marshall to helm the long-awaited sequel, Mary Poppins Returns. Released in 2018, the follow-up to the timeless Disney classic focuses on the Banks children, now grown-up, dealing with a loss, leading to Blunt’s Mary Poppins to help them.
On the other hand, Streep plays Topsy, Mary Poppins’ eccentric cousin who runs a fix-it workshop where everything is upside down. Topsy serves as a minor obstacle for Poppins, lamplighter Jack and the younger Banks children (John, Annabel and Georgie), who hoped that she can fix a prized bowl. But the Mary Poppins’ relative determined that the bowl has less monetary value.
Streep’s part is relatively short, not helped by the less inspired number “Turning Turtle." And it only seems to serve as a “mini-reunion” between Streep and Blunt.
Much like Into the Woods, Mary Poppins Returns was greeted with a modest reception, both in the box office and among critics. And it was also quietly divisive among Disney fans.
While their previous faceoffs are less than ideal, the main idea for The Devil Wears Prada is worth the hype, pitting two A-list stars at different stages of their career and translating their trajectory to their characters. Whoever wins, we will watch.