SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses plot details for “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” in theaters now.
Last fall, Lady Gaga’s fans worked themselves into a frenzy when they spotted her in Milan amid her sold-out Mayhem World Tour. Her presence was conspicuous since she was in between shows in London and Stockholm — plus the long-awaited sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada,” starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, was filming in the Italian city for fashion week.
It didn’t take long for Gaga’s devotees to put together — or for Variety to report — that Mother Monster would indeed make an appearance in the movie opposite Miranda Priestly. But further details of her involvement were kept under wraps.
Now, with “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in theaters, the filmmakers can reveal how the A-list cameo came together — all thanks to a personal call by Meryl Streep.
Streep and Gaga met at “SNL 50” last February and immediately hit it off. “They said, ‘Let’s work together sometime,’” director David Frankel tells Variety. Their collaboration manifested quite quickly, as a few months later, Frankel asked his leading lady for a favor. “I called Meryl, and I go, ‘Hey, how would you feel about reaching out to your new friend?’”
Streep happily obliged, got Gaga’s number from a mutual friend and made the call.
“I thought, I might as well try her,” Streep shared in a recent interview with Heart. “I just said, ‘Would you do this? Because it’s going to be really good.’ And she said, ‘Yeah!’ Just like that. She’s on her world tour, which lasted a year, playing to 75,000 people in a stadium and just flew off and did us.”
Initially, the “Devil Wears Prada” filmmakers wanted Gaga to write and perform a song in the movie; she ended up writing three originals: “Runway,” the duet with Doechii, “Shape of a Woman” and “Glamorous Life.” Likewise, her cameo quickly expanded beyond delivering a showstopping performance.
“She’s such a great actress,” Frankel explains. “We thought, ‘What could the scene be? How do you create something dramatic?’”
There was only room for one sequence, so the team decided to create narrative tension by manufacturing some beef between Miranda and the pop star.
The sequel’s storyline follows Miranda as she navigates Runway’s future amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing. When the magazine comes under new ownership, financial advisors propose a series of budget cuts — including slashing the costs of Runway’s fashion extravaganza in Milan. As Nigel (Tucci) explains that the musical guest they’d chosen is now too expensive, he urges Miranda to call the one superstar she’d found impossible to work with on a previous shoot. “That cover almost killed me,” she sighs, but ultimately agrees to reach out.
Fast forward to Fashion Week and welcome to a diva-fied version of Lady Gaga, who doesn’t much care for Miranda either. The two share a frosty faceoff backstage, where Miranda “thanks” the singer for participating in the show. Gaga fires back, explaining that she didn’t have much choice since Nigel told her she’d never get another Runway cover if she didn’t do it. “That doesn’t sound like him,” Miranda says. Gaga, who’s getting her hair and makeup done for the show, agrees. In fact, it sounds more like the ice-queen editor-in-chief.
“We thought we’d make up this persona for Gaga that there’s this terrible history, and she’s such a diva that Miranda can’t stand her, and she loved it!” Frankel says of the origins of the brief but hilarious scene. “It was really fun for both of them to play this real catty moment.”
Costume designer Molly Rogers also relished the chance to collaborate with Gaga on her look for the film. “I had things. She brought things. Things were made. In the end, it was a combination,” Rogers says.
Since the scene was meant to honor Italian fashion, Rogers wanted to put Gaga in an Italian designer.
“There was one Versace canary yellow crystal gown, and she rehearsed in it a few times … but she looked like a part of the fashion show, so we settled on a piece of her archive,” Rogers recalls.
The winning look was a custom Atelier Versace number with a matching scepter, which Gaga previously sported during the 2012 Grammys. “She rehearsed in like three different things, and that was the one,” Rogers explains. “I said, you move differently in this one. And she said, ‘I felt it too. Let’s go for it.’”
The only snafu was that the dress started falling apart during the shoot. “It was literally like dry-rot on ‘Carrie.’ Things have fallen apart on Sarah Jessica Parker [during “Sex and the City”], and this was falling apart on her,” Rogers says. But, Gaga, ever the professional, didn’t sweat it. The show must go on, after all,” Rogers adds: “We mended it, and it was amazing!”
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