Ability over Appearance: Emily is an American in the book but becomes British in the film to accommodate Emily Blunt. Her performance was widely praised, and there were very few complaints about the change as a result.
Meryl Streep suggested that Miranda not be wearing make-up for the scene where she briefly opens up to Andy, and for Miranda's hair to be white, in spite of producers worrying it might make her look too old.
During the first table read, everyone expected Streep to say her first lines in a loud, commanding voice. Instead, she spoke in an extremely low, measured tone, forcing everyone to lean in to hear what she was saying. It instantly captured Miranda's nature—she is the center of the universe, and everything is pulled to her—so Streep used that volume throughout the entire film.
For the sweater speech, they realised that Miranda would not just say 'blue' but rather pick an exact shade. They sent a list of shades to Meryl Streep, and she picked cerulean as the one to be used.
Emily Blunt also suggested that Emily be seen frequently running about in the background of certain scenes, feeling she would always be busy.
Stanley Tucci insisted on the glasses that Nigel wears.
Simon Baker designed the green jacket Christian wears when he meets Andy, and wore it in his audition tape.
Nate was supposed to kiss Andy in the scene where he makes her a grilled cheese sandwich. Anne Hathaway suggested that be taken out, as "it doesn't feel like we're at that point in the relationship".
Pun aside, Anna Wintour, the rumoured inspiration for Miranda Priestly, enjoyed the film and praised Meryl Streep's performance.
Lauren Weisberger says the film is funnier than her book.
Award Category Fraud: A debatable case, but some believe that Meryl Streep would've been a better fit in the supporting category rather than lead, as she's a static character without any real arc and is clearly secondary to Anne Hathaway. However, many defend the placement as Miranda is still clearly next biggest role, she totally steals the show, and even when she's offscreen, her presence is felt.
E! commentator Roger Verdi auditioned for Nigel, but was given a walk on part as a fashion journalist in Paris.
Daniel Sunjata likewise had been auditioning for Nigel, but asked to play Holt instead, as he had recently played a similar role to Nigel.
Creator Backlash: Oddly enough, an entirely self-imposed case. Meryl Streep had such a miserable time keeping up her Method Acting and never getting to hang out with the other actors that she's never used it again.
Creator-Chosen Casting: Meryl Streep was the first and only choice for Miranda Priestly.
Deleted Role: Meryl Streep's daughter, Mamie Gummer, played a Starbucks clerk, but her scene was cut for pacing.
Denied Parody: Miranda bears a striking similarity to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, for whom Weisberger was an assistant, but the author maintains that she is a composite of fiction and various stories of her friends' first jobs. The filmmakers however modelled Miranda's office off photos of Anna Wintour's, and the latter had it redecorated once she saw the film.
Doing It for the Art: This film is one of the most expensively costumed movies ever. The wardrobe budget was $100,000, but many top-level designers agreed to provide their latest and most stylish outfits for free. It is estimated that at least $1 million worth of clothing was used in the film.
Dyeing for Your Art: Anne Hathaway first gained ten pounds, but was then told to lose them and she would be padded for Andy's 'fat scenes'. Emily Blunt also had to lose weight too. The two actresses claimed they were starving during production.
Enforced Method Acting: Meryl Streep went up to Anne Hathaway on the first day and said "I think you're perfect for the role and I'm so happy we're going to be working on this together" - and then warned her that would be the last nice thing she said until production finished. She also kept her distance from the other cast members. Emily Blunt joked that as soon as the film wrapped, Meryl ran across the car park to her to say "you were great!"
Fake American: Unlike Emily Blunt, British Rebecca Mader doesn't get to keep her accent as Jocelyn. Australian Simon Baker also adopts an American accent as Christian.
Colleen and Suzanne Dengel, who played Miranda's twins, were huge fans of The Princess Diaries and were ecstatic to act alongside Anne Hathaway.
Rebecca Mader was a huge Meryl Streep fan and recalls nervously asking her for a picture once she was wrapped. Heartwarmingly, Meryl was all too happy to do so.
Release Date Change: Originally a spring release, 20th Century Fox decided to launch it as counter-programming against Superman Returns. In the end, it actually outdid Superman at the international box office.
Star-Making Role: This got Emily Blunt a lot of positive attention, and helped her get nominated for the Orange Rising Star Award.
The line from Miranda was originally going to be "everyone wants to be me". Meryl Streep disliked the line and found it too dramatic, and changed it to "everyone wants to be us" at the table reading. The change stuck.
Emily Blunt improvised her "I am hearing this" line, complete with finger gestures, based on a frazzled mother in a grocery store who'd said and done the same thing. David Frankel loved it and kept it in the final take.
Giselle Bündchen ad-libbed "she looks good" after Andy's makeover, feeling it balanced out Emily's meanness to her.
Miranda's meanness was initially toned down in the script, at the request of producer Wendy Finerman and director David Frankel. Meryl Streep however insisted that most of it be restored.
The speech about the sweater Andy is wearing was originally deleted from an earlier draft, and was much shorter, but Meryl Streep insisted it be restored, and expanded into something about why Miranda felt fashion was important.
Gisele Bündchen agreed to appear in the film only if she didn't play a model.
An extended version of the scene where Miranda opens up to Andy would have her giving her backstory - a different one from the book. She would claim to have been born in Pearl River, New York and started out as an assistant like Andy.
Stanley Tucci did several different versions of the "gird your loins!" take, throwing different lines out. One of them was "tits in!"
Graham Norton auditioned for the role of Nigel, which he humorously confronted Stanley Tucci over on his chat show.
One scene, where Nigel tells Andy not to complain about her job so much, originally had Nate being more supportive and giving her a pep talk. Aline Bosh McKenna however was told by people in fashion she consulted for authenticity "no one in that world is nice to each other...there's no reason to be and they don't have time."
Many actual fashion designers were invited to cameo as themselves, but Anna Wintour reportedly threatened to ban them from ever being mentioned in Vogue if they did.
The production initially wasn't given the budget to allow for location filming in Paris. On seeing a sizzle reel of highlights from the six weeks of shooting, they increased it to allow limited overseas filming. Meryl Streep however wasn't allowed to go, as Fox believed it was too expensive, so she is only green screened in or uses a body double.
The scene of Andy missing Nate's birthday was originally more elaborate, where they were supposed to meet up with friends at a concert. That was too costly, and so they changed it to the simpler cupcake scene.
Write What You Know: Screenwriter Aline Bosh McKenna, who was the fourth person brought on board to write the script, drew heavily from her experience attempting to be a New York City journalist in her youth.
