Speaker 1: From the Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey. It's time for the Devil Wears Prada to.
Speaker 2: Jehany Fendi Bulder.
Speaker 1: We're back in New York. The dialogue is haughty, the
Speaker 1: fashion is detailed, and the luxury is quiet. Luxury that
Speaker 1: is so quiet you need an era trumpet. Nikki Gammel,
Speaker 1: our chief film critic, joins me with her review of
Speaker 1: the movie that's about to take cinemas by storm and
Speaker 1: why she found it equal parts spectacular and sobering. Now, Nikki,
Speaker 1: I've got to ask. The greatest trope, I guess in
Speaker 1: the first Devil West Prata was the way Miranda Priestley
Speaker 1: made her entrance. Oh yes, Meryl Streep, as the Runway
Speaker 1: editor in chief, would storm in to her own office
Speaker 1: and just fooling her overcoat and you know, forty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollar handbag on the desk of whoever was nearest.
Speaker 1: If she's still doing that twenty years on.
Speaker 2: Well, it's all change. She has to hang up her
Speaker 2: own coat, which is huge. Not only that private cars
Speaker 2: no more. She has to take an uber also, she
Speaker 2: has to fly economy. It's so delicious Basically, the grand
Speaker 2: gatekeeper of old is being put in her place by
Speaker 2: the world of media. Now. It's kind of like Miranda's
Speaker 2: feeling her age. God, that's not what you're wearing to
Speaker 2: the dinner, That's all.
Speaker 1: A lot has happened since The Devil Wears Prida came
Speaker 1: out in two thousand and six and the sequel in cinemas. Now,
Speaker 1: the fashion and police have been replaced by influencers. Direct
Speaker 1: to consumer models have short circuited middlemen, and of course
Speaker 1: the world of print journalism has been ravaged by the Internet.
Speaker 1: It's a free for all. Everyone has a platform, but
Speaker 1: does anyone have any style? Protagonist Miranda Priestley played by
Speaker 1: Meryl Streep certainly does, and so does her offsider Nigel
Speaker 1: played by Stanley Tucci.
Speaker 2: The Brunello Cucinelli pants. Love those, and it's definitely need
Speaker 2: an embroidered two piece totem set, but not the terror
Speaker 2: catta because you're so pale.
Speaker 1: Journalist Andy Sachs played by Anne Hathaway is back in
Speaker 1: the sequel, but this time sax is no assistant. She's
Speaker 1: the key, hopefully to saving Priestley's magazine, Empire Runway.
Speaker 3: So he said that that we need, I mean, Runway
Speaker 3: needs to take control of the narrative of the Speed
Speaker 3: Pash story and restore credibility. But I thought that for
Speaker 3: sure you had approved, and we're excited, and that's.
Speaker 1: Why I came in here all like, oh, I can't
Speaker 1: wait to see this movie. And I've got two screenings
Speaker 1: booked for this weekend with my children and my own mum. Friends.
Speaker 1: This is going to be the multi generational movie of
Speaker 1: the year, isn't it. Everyone I know is going to
Speaker 1: at least one screening.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I actually don't know.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: I came away from Wuthering Heights and I just thought,
Speaker 2: in my bones, this is going to be huge, and
Speaker 2: women are going to see it again and again and
Speaker 2: again with the devil wez prior to look, I love
Speaker 2: this film. As film critic, I gave it four stars.
Speaker 2: But I think that was also tinged because of the
Speaker 2: fact that I am a writer and a journalist and
Speaker 2: this film is about journalism, how journalism works now, kind
Speaker 2: of the demise of legacy media, and it's heartbreak. I
Speaker 2: kind of hate to say it, but I ended up
Speaker 2: crying at the end, and I really wasn't expecting that
Speaker 2: from the Devil Wears Prata too. I thought it would
Speaker 2: be just a lovely, you know, fluffball confection like the
Speaker 2: one we had twenty years ago in two thousand and six,
Speaker 2: you know, the Devil Wears Brat of one. This one,
Speaker 2: for any journalist, it's kind of like a stab in
Speaker 2: the heart because it feels like it's too close to
Speaker 2: the bone. It is very, very real in terms of
Speaker 2: what it depicts about the decimation of news rooms and
Speaker 2: magazine worlds all over the globe. And it's really painful
Speaker 2: to watch.
Speaker 1: There's Charlton, who're glowing. Seems retail still suits you. Nigel,
Speaker 1: you're hanging in there by a fingernails.
Speaker 2: Do you rememal what magazine's think?
Speaker 1: All right, come on in, everybody, take a seat. Lots
Speaker 1: to discuss a really important theme in the first Devilwez Prata,
Speaker 1: and I'm assuming this one also was power, the abuse
Speaker 1: of power, certainly by people of influence in this world
Speaker 1: of fashion, and how the forces of fashion dictate what
Speaker 1: even the hideous blue jumpers that people at me a wearing. Yes,
Speaker 1: How are the characters in this movie, particularly Miranda Priestley,
Speaker 1: coping with that shift in the power balance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look, the power dynamic has completely changed. When
Speaker 2: you know, the first Devil Wears Prata came out, major
Speaker 2: fashion labels were kind of distancing themselves from it because
Speaker 2: it was a real evisceration of the Vogue ecosystem, even
Speaker 2: though the magazine in the film is called Runway. This
Speaker 2: time around, it's really interesting in terms of how the
Speaker 2: power has shifted to the advertisers and the major labels. Basically,
Speaker 2: the premise of the film is at the start, Miranda Priestley,
Speaker 2: you know, ice Queen extraordinari, She's canceled. It's very, very
Speaker 2: damaging for the business, for stockholders and all the rest
Speaker 2: of it. So she has to try and retrieve the situation.
Speaker 2: And that's how our gorgeous heroine Andy Sachs ends up
Speaker 2: back with Miranda. But this time she absolutely sees through Miranda.
Speaker 2: So in a way Devil was prior to too, really
Speaker 2: really humanizes Miranda Priestley, gives her a touch of vulnerability,
Speaker 2: and dare I say it, the Devil is the angel
Speaker 2: in disguise. In terms of legacy media trying to preserve
Speaker 2: the integrity of old journalism.
Speaker 1: Mel Streep's betrayal is so interesting isn't it. And I
Speaker 1: think everyone has always assumed that she based the character
Speaker 1: on and a Winter. Of course, in the story, it's
Speaker 1: an a Winter figure. But she said in an interview
Speaker 1: recently with Stephen Colbert that in fact it was a
Speaker 1: combination of the film directors Mike Nichols and Clint Eastwood,
Speaker 1: that this this sort of quiet power and not saying
Speaker 1: a and keeping your voice very low and using all
Speaker 1: those tools of manipulation, I suppose to intimidate and to
Speaker 1: control an environment. What an amazing portrayal for Meryl Street
Speaker 1: across the generation. Really, she wasn't that old when she
Speaker 1: played this character the first time. How has she aged
Speaker 1: into the new Miranda Priestley now?
Speaker 2: Well, physically it doesn't look like she's aged at all,
Speaker 2: but I guess that's Hollywood. Ah. She looks amazing for
Speaker 2: a seventy six year old woman. But I think in
Speaker 2: terms of devils prior to too, which is why I
Speaker 2: connected to it even more than the first one. Was
Speaker 2: you really connect with Miranda this time? You know, I've
Speaker 2: got four kids, I am surrounded by teenagers. You know,
Speaker 2: you can suddonic little asides, you know, as she is
Speaker 2: policed for saying the wrong words, and she doesn't even
Speaker 2: know which wrong words she says. At one point in
Speaker 2: a staff meeting, well you know, was it methodone or
Speaker 2: New Jersey? You know, because she doesn't really know what's
Speaker 2: coming wrong, but she knows she's done something wrong, and
Speaker 2: you know, all the time she's just so close to
Speaker 2: being canceled. So there's a lot of pressure there. But
Speaker 2: underneath everything, which I think came through in the first film, too,
Speaker 2: is an old school journal who started off, you know,
Speaker 2: around the traps. I think of Anna Winter, you know,
Speaker 2: Patrick Winter, her father is one of the most esteemed
Speaker 2: journalists of the past century. And I feel like this
Speaker 2: film is a real tipping of a hat to old
Speaker 2: school type journalism as opposed to this new world, which is,
Speaker 2: you know, highly pressurized, kind of panicky of no matter
Speaker 2: what the integrity of the story, is it getting engagement,
Speaker 2: is it getting clicks? You know, there's a beautiful, terrifying
Speaker 2: line in there, something about Runway magazine. Are we the
Speaker 2: last plank of wood? Kind of floating around the of
Speaker 2: the Titanic, And you know it's like who knows, who knows?
Speaker 2: And the film is also looking at new owners kind
Speaker 2: of tech bro owners of media now as opposed to
Speaker 2: legacy media owners who had ink in their veins and
Speaker 2: were passionate about the printed product. It's a world some
Speaker 2: of us, a lot of us maybe aren't completely used to.
Speaker 2: So I just find that the script really skewers the
Speaker 2: kind of febrile atmosphere of media at the moment in
Speaker 2: a really powerful way, and through a comedy lens.
Speaker 1: Coming up the Australian heart throbs in The Devil Wears
Speaker 1: Pride of Us. Before I let you go, Nick, you
Speaker 1: have to ask about Patrick Bramle. So, now this is
Speaker 1: the second of the franchise where there's been an Australian
Speaker 1: love interest Simon Baker in the first one, who was
Speaker 1: kind of the you know, sleazy, charming editor Christian and
Speaker 1: now Patrick Bramble. We don't know much about his role.
Speaker 1: Who is he and how does he kind of get
Speaker 1: himself tangled up in this story.
Speaker 2: Well we can forgive him because he's allowed to have
Speaker 2: an Australian accent in this which is great. But he
Speaker 2: does play a developer who demolishes, guts the interiors of
Speaker 2: heritage buildings. So when he said that, I was going
Speaker 2: to like, but I still love you because Patrick is
Speaker 2: just no perfect you know. He's like he's in Colin.
Speaker 2: He's kind of the affable beta male. He's kind of
Speaker 2: warm and charming and he's kind of I got that loose,
Speaker 2: sardonic Australian sense of humor where you don't take yourself
Speaker 2: too seriously. So I would say, in terms of hot
Speaker 2: Aussie blokes, Patrick Rammol delivers Sorry for your beautiful wife.
Speaker 1: Nicki Gammel, thank you very much, thank you. The Devil
Speaker 1: wes Prata Too is in theaters now. Nicki Gammel is
Speaker 1: the Australian's film critic. You can read her review of
Speaker 1: The Devil wez Prata two at the Australian dot com
Speaker 1: dot au slash culture. This episode of the Front was
Speaker 1: hosted by me Claire Harvey and produced by Jasper League.
Speaker 1: Our team also includes Kristin amiot Leat Sammaglue, Tiffany Dimac
Speaker 1: and Joshua Burton