An Interview with Meryl Streep

The devilish diva in movie star Meryl Streep reared its ugly head while she chose her character's couture for new movie 'The Devil Wears Prada'. The star, who insists she's no fashionista in real life, was particularly demanding and unwavering with fashion designer Patricia Fields, and became a self-confessed pain when selecting her costumes to create über-fashion boss Miranda Priestly.

Due to the shortage of powerful women, the Oscar-winner based Priestly on a handful of powerful men she knows, and not on 'Vogue' editor Anna Wintour - as has been reported. She did, however, copy an older fashion model for her hair colour, which is shockingly white in the film. She claims the look gave the character a snooty, above-it-all feeling that she doesn't need to dye it. Inhabiting her character's arrogance and stand-offish behaviour was far from fun for the normally friendly Streep, who chose not to socialise with her castmates, so she could perfect her distant character.

Did you discover your inner diva when playing Miranda Priestly?
I'm a pain in the butt for any costume designer because I have so many opinions about how my people (characters) should present (to the world). I feel very strongly that we make decisions about what we're giving to the world, what we're withholding from the world by virtue of what we put on our bodies, what we choose to say and not say. For me, clothes are kind of a character. They're more interesting in those terms. I don't follow fashion or understand the trends, but I understand a lot more about marketing (clothes) than I ever did after doing this movie.

Did you put designer Patricia Fields into overdrive?
She just lay down and let me run over her (laughs)! No, she was very agreeable and exhausted. She had so many women to dress. This achievement is amazing of Pat Fields that she put this movie together because she had no money. It was as if they were making a movie about aerospace and decided to make it in a garage in Paramus (New Jersey). These clothes cost so much money. One of the handbags was ,000. It's almost inconceivable to me. There were many, many bags that were that expensive. So then a ,000 bag seems like a bargain and you adjust your whole way of thinking and it's just insane. Pat had to rely on her good relationships with many designers and talked them into loaning us stuff, went to archival things, which are another word for used (clothing). People were very generous in the fashion business and lent us clothes. We had two-and-a-half or three weeks with 60-something costumes and each one had to be co-ordinated with the shoes, the earrings, the jacket and everything perfectly tailored. It was really very laborious for me.

Were you familiar with Patricia Fields' original designs?
I used to walk by Patricia's store when it was on 8th Street (in the East Village of New York) and get scared if I looked in the windows.

Do you agree with the negative self-image the fashion industry portrays about being too thin?
Yes, of course, and I have three daughters, and it affected me as a teenager, so I have my little ideas about all this stuff. I think it's highly destructive. I don't know the answer. People want what they want and sometimes you have to walk out in defiance of it and just be yourself.

Was it hard to shake this character's arrogance and vanity at the end of the day?
I didn't have that much fun to be this person. I didn't stay in character when they yelled, 'Cut,' but I also found that I couldn't enter into the sort of fun on the set, which is the real reason that I make movies. I felt it wouldn't help the dynamic of the set if I immediately went over and was joking with Emily (Blunt, who plays her assistant) and Anne (Hathaway) and Stanley (Tucci). They were always having a party over in the corner. I just couldn't join it and it was sort of a lonely position I staked out for myself. I suppose it paid off ultimately (for the role).

Who did you model Miranda on?
Unfortunately, we don't have enough women in power, or, at least, I don't know them to sort of copy. Most of my models for this character were from the male end of the species. Compared to the people that I know, and I was thinking about some of them, Miranda is so well behaved. She's almost like a diplomat, compared to some people who are very, very powerful in our business. I know the book was based on an assistant's eye view of Anna Wintour, but it didn't interest me to do a documentary on Anna Wintour. I only met her at the first benefit screening and she came to it and we were introduced and she was a good sport about it. I think she had been told that I don't resemble her. It's much more fun for me to make the über-boss out of my own pastiche of experience.

Why did you choose to colour your hair grey?
That was a decision that my make-up man and hairdresser and I made. We knew we wanted to make a very definite kind of a look; a woman that doesn't look like anybody else in New York - that at the (fashion) shows it would be easy to spot her. I've always admired this model named Carmen. Whenever they want an older model, she's there. She's got a big swoop of white hair, and it appears to be natural. That kind of defiance in the face of the beauty industry when you're just so over the top of everything and on top of everything that you can just not dye your hair. I thought it was a great look.

Have you been a boss to an assistant who has gone on to greater things?
I've always had people who were so wildly over-qualified for the jobs that I set them, the tasks that I set them. I've had the most wonderful people and have been very lucky. One of them has just gone on to great things and I'm very proud of her, but I don't claim any credit. Emily Sklar used to be my assistant and now she's a literary agent. She's really, really smart.

Miranda seems to have arrived at a lofty position by making many compromises in her personal life. Can you relate to that?
I haven't made any choices that I've regretted, and, if I have, I blocked them, but I've made all sorts of compromises, like, every single day, sometimes whether to shower or not because you don't have time. If you have a very thickly populated home life, and then a career that's demanding, something always comes up short and I've always felt kind of stretched to the max, but also very, very lucky and nourished by my family and career. It's always a struggle and you always feel like you're letting somebody down.