Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci break down the emotional ending of The Devil Wears Prada 2, from Emily’s “come-up” to Miranda’s “revelation” about Nigel.
Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt worked on Italian together
Emily Blunt got help from Stanley Tucci in Italian for The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Spoiler alert! We discuss important details about the ending of The Devil Wears Prada 2 (currently in theaters). If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want to know what happens, stop reading.
There’s nothing a few carbs can’t fix.
Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt) returns to all her tired, ephemeral glory in The Devil Wears Prada 2, dishing out bits left and right as she reunites with her former Runway magazine colleagues Miranda (Meryl Streep), Andy (Anne Hathaway) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci).
When she appears in the sequel, Emily left the runway to oversee Dior’s luxury retail store. However, midway through the movie, we learn that it wasn’t of his own free will. A few years ago, Miranda kicked Emily out of the magazine, telling her that she didn’t have what it took to rise to the position of a respected fashion bible. (“You’re not a visionary, you’re a bender,” Miranda charges.)
Desperate for revenge, Emily enlists the help of her billionaire boyfriend Benji (Justin Theroux) to buy Runway from Miranda’s control so she can run it herself. However, Andy and Miranda eventually beat Emily in her match and found another wealthy buyer, Sasha (Lucy Liu), who outbid Benjy for control of the publisher and its parent company’s stock.
Emily Blunt says Andy and Emily are ‘another movie love story’
At the end of the movie, Andy is shocked when Emily invites him to lunch. Emily explains that even when she was a rival’s assistant on Runway 20 years ago, she always wanted to be friends and offers him the well-deserved responsibility. In fact, when Andy first left the magazine, Emily called her to hang out, but Andy didn’t answer.
Emily, now single and working as a coach, gets a much-needed pep talk from Andy. Andy assures her that she doesn’t need a man and that she will always be an icon. And to Andy’s surprise, Emily, who was once sensitive to carbs, ordered a basket of fries to share. (“Don’t you know shared carbs have no calories?” jokes Emily.)
“I loved that scene,” Blunt told USA TODAY. “Emily, of course, gets a chance to turn things around, because on her way to the top she has to take things down a peg or two.” Still, he said, “There’s a sense of remorse. She’s not a very good apologist, and that’s tough. But I think there’s always been a weird affinity between her and Andy. It’s another love story in this movie, and I thought it was very moving.”
“These characters deal with elements of forgiveness and recognition as much as they do with putting them through the wringer,” Brandt adds. “That scene summed it up and made me laugh. It was so sweet and so fun to do with Annie. Annie is a great dance partner in that way.”
Stanley Tucci reveals Miranda’s emotional ‘epiphany’ about Nigel
Nigel, who served as Runway’s art director for many years, will also part ways with Miranda. As you may remember from the first movie, Miranda sabotaged a lucrative job opportunity for Nigel in order to protect her position as editor-in-chief. But Nigel kept his head down and remained loyal, telling Andy, “When the time is right, she’ll give me the money back.”
In the sequel, Miranda cedes the spotlight to Nigel during Milan Fashion Week, a moment in which Nigel takes over the runway, becomes the face of the brand, and even gives the keynote speech.
“Did I take you for granted?” she tells her right-hand man in a quiet, heartwarming aside. “In a world where everyone screams and complains and whines and fails and tries to cheat, there you are. There has always been you.”
“I thought that scene was beautiful,” Tucci says. “She feels that epiphany and comes to him with her heart in her hands. He is very moved by it, but has little idea how to react. The same thing happened in the first movie, where he didn’t get the job and barely reacted.
“He’s a very sub-surface person, but he’s very dignified,” Tucci added. “It’s cat-like, but dignified.”
What is the ending of “The Devil Wears Prada 2”?
In the first scene of The Devil Wears Prada 2, Andy and Miranda win Sasha’s trust by writing a Runway exclusive cover story that sensitively details Sasha’s high-profile divorce, career, and new engagement. So when Sasha later agrees to buy the magazine, Miranda and Andy expect Sasha to run the publication carefully, even though they admit that working in media in the current climate is like clinging to the last tree on the Titanic.
The final scene is beautiful in its simplicity. It follows Andy, Miranda and Nigel as they work late into the office, wondering where the future of journalism will take them, but realizing that all they can do is roll up their sleeves and do the work they feel is most rewarding.
It’s a dark but realistic ending, especially for a big-budget summer movie.
“I love journalists, and their plight hits close to home for me,” says screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, whose son is in journalism. “How does Andy learn how to monetize[his story]? Miranda has the same problem, because the nature of advertising has completely changed. Google search has wiped out the entire newsstand. So we wanted to make the most fun and entertaining movie humanly possible about that.”
“Someone once said that when you’re working on something that’s successful, you all fight. But when you’re working on something that’s failing, you become best friends,” McKenna added. “These characters have great hardships, and that’s what brings them together.”
