Meryl Streep Insists She's Not 'Doing Anna Wintour' In Devil Wears Prada

Meryl Streep has dismissed the suggestion that she’s doing an impersonation of Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada and its upcoming sequel.

The three-time Oscar winner plays fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly in both films, sharing the screen with Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.

While Miranda has repeatedly been compared to Anna Wintour over the years, Meryl has insisted that isn’t who she had in mind while putting the character together.

“I’m not doing Anna Wintour,” she told AP at the movie’s premiere on Monday night. “Do I look like Anna Wintour? And did I act like Anna Wintour? No!”

She continued: “I’m not as smart as Anna Wintour, or as together or as well-dressed. Tonight I am, because I’m wearing Givenchy. But I admire her so incredibly.”

The Mamma Mia! star then went on to share her real inspirations for Miranda, admitting: “I copied a lot of my bosses. Most of my bosses were directors and they were men. So, that’s who I’m sort of channelling.”

Earlier this month, Vogue magazine unveiled its latest cover, depicting Meryl in character as Miranda Priestly posing alongside Anna Wintour.

During her accompanying interview, Meryl admitted she did consider aspects of the veteran journalist while getting back into character

“In terms of Miranda, and coming back to that character 20 years later, I did think honestly about Anna and tried to imagine what it was like to carry her responsibility and to be as interested in the world and curious as she must have to be,” she explained. “That’s the key, I think, to being alive: Always breaking new water. Always breaking the waves. And we’re not done yet.”

She added: “The thing that’s fun about [Miranda] is that I was using my role models, different people that I know, and most of them are men. So that gave me some freedom too.”

Last year, Anna told the Vogue podcast The Run-Through: “I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about.

“I think that the fashion industry was very sweetly concerned for me about the film that it was gonna paint me in some kind of difficult light.”

The Met Gala organiser went on to hail Meryl’s performance as “fantastic”, adding: “I went to see the film, and I found it highly enjoyable and very funny.

“It had a lot of humour to it, it had a lot of wit. I mean, [the cast was] all amazing. And in the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”