?The Devil Wears Prada? Author Lauren Weisberger Writing Sequel To Bestselling Novel
The Prada-clad devil is back!
Author Lauren Weisberger, who penned the popular 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada, is working on a sequel to the thinly veiled autobiographical story about working at the ultimate fashion rag -- which became a popular movie adaptation in short order.
Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns will be published by Simon & Schuster and is scheduled for release in April 2013, Entertainment Weekly reported. The book will pick up eight years from where its predecessor left off. The protagonist, Andrea Sachs, is now the head of a bridal magazine and engaged when she crosses paths with her old boss, the chilly editor of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly.
Weisberger's original story is said to be based on her own experiences as an assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, one of fashion's most influential people who is reported to have an exceptionally difficult personality.
A lot of the anecdotes and demands and craziness are products of my imagination, stories I created at 4 in the morning while chugging coffee and fighting sleep deprivation, the author said in a Random House interview. But there's reality there, too. Some of the stories aren't so far away from the tasks either I or my friends in various industries -- whether fashion or magazines or PR or advertising -- went through our first few years out of college. I imagine that assistants everywhere will recognize some of their own experiences in Andrea's life.
The book was adapted for film in 2006. The highly successful movie -- which grossed more than $120 million in the U.S. alone, according to Box Office Mojo -- starred Meryl Streep as the Devil and Anne Hathaway as the story's POV character. Rounding out the cast were British actress Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci.
Streep's performance as the chilly and intimidating Miranda Priestly nabbed her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress (she lost out that year to Helen Mirren, who got the award for The Queen).
Wintour showed some moxie and good humor by attending the film's New York premiere. Her friend Barbara Amiel wrote about Wintour and the film for the Telegraph that year in a post titled The 'Devil' I Know. Her post included the following: Whether the movie will have any box office staying power or quickly go into DVD, as Anna Wintour is reputed to have said after spunkily attending a Manhattan screening of it (wearing a cream and black tea-length Prada dress of 'old' vintage, which in Anna-speak could mean a season or two off the current one), remains to be seen. The under-25 set will adore it, as will that rather large class of women who guiltily read Hello! magazine at the hairdresser's.
That same year, Wintour was named one of Barbara Walters' Most Fascinating People. Walters asked her what she thought of the movie.
I thought the film was really entertaining, she said. I mean, anything that makes fashion entertaining and glamorous and interesting is wonderful for our industry, so I was 100 percent behind it.
Walters also asked Wintour whether she saw anything of herself in the character of Miranda Priestly.
I'm a very decisive person, Wintour said. I think it's actually helpful to people that you are working with that you can make decisions. So, if Meryl seemed somewhat strong, I respect that.
Now to see whether Weisberger's sequel does the whole story justice, and if Miranda Priestly is still the Devil.
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