Anne Hathaway explains why The Devil Wears Prada wouldn’t work today

The Oscar winner also opened up about her unintentional ‘Devil Wears Prada’ look at NYFW

It’s been almost two decades since The Devil Wears Prada first graced our screens. While the 2006 film still holds up nearly 16 years later, Anne Hathaway believes The Devil Wears Prada is really a period drama – sort of.

On Tuesday, the Oscar-winning actress appeared on The View, where she was asked if a potential sequel to director David Frankel’s hit film could potentially be in the works. “I don’t know if there can be,” Hathaway told co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“I just think that movie was in a different era. Now, everything has gone so digital, and that movie centred around the concept of producing a physical thing, and it’s just very different now,” she said.

While the Princess Diaries star explained why a Devil Wears Prada sequel wouldn’t work today, she did seem to have given some thought to a potential plot. “It is tempting to think about Andy and Emily needing to get Miranda her coffee and she’s somewhere in Europe and then along the way they pick up Stanley Tucci in Italy, who’s at a restaurant,” she mused. “It’s tempting, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. They could relaunch it, get some new people and do it.”

In The Devil Wears Prada, Hathaway plays Andy Sachs, an ambitious journalist who becomes the assistant to an ice-cold editor at a major New York fashion magazine. The editor, Miranda Priestly (played by Meryl Streep) has long been considered partially inspired by real-life Vogue editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour.

Worlds collided in September when the 36-year-old actress sat next to Wintour at the Michael Kors fashion show during New York Fashion Week. Fans even believed that Hathaway’s outfit had channeled a look worn by her beloved Devil Wears Prada character.

During the event, the Ocean’s 8 actor was spotted wearing a black turtleneck with a brown crocodile skirt and matching jacket as she sat front row next to Wintour. Hathaway also had her hair styled in a ponytail and bangs, reminiscent of Andy Sachs’ hair from the film.

Anne Hathaway sits next to Anna Wintour at Michael Kors NYFW show (Getty Images for Michael Kors)

When asked about the “full circle” moment on The View, Hathaway explained that she was supposed to wear something else to the fashion show but the Andy Sachs look “just happened”.

“It just happened. I was supposed to wear something else, Michael Kors sent over two beautiful outfits and the shoes didn’t fit on the one that I thought I was going to wear, and the other one happened to be that one,” she recalled. “I was working with a new hairstylist, and he was like: ‘Oh, a turtleneck, let’s put your hair up in a ponytail.’”

Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada (2006) (Barry Wetcher/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock)

“I looked in the mirror on the way out the door and I was like, oh, that’s kind of funny, I wonder if anybody’s going to notice?”

The question remains: did Hathaway and Wintour talk about the unintentional Devil Wears Prada reference? According to Hathaway, the two talked “about tennis”.

“I have to say, I was always so impressed that she showed up to the charity screening that we had at The Devil Wears Prada, wearing Prada,” Hathaway added. “So, I think she’s got a good sense of humour.”