Rachel McAdams Turned Down Anne Hathaway's 'Devil Wears Prada' Role 3 Times, Director Says

Anne Hathaway's role in 2006's "The Devil Wears Prada" was offered to Rachel McAdams three times, but the latter was just not interested.

Director David Frankel made the revelation in a new Entertainment Weekly profile to commemorate the movie's 15th anniversary. According to the director, McAdams was the first choice of Fox 2000, the studio behind "The Devil Wears Prada," as they wanted an established actress for the role of Andy Sachs.

"We started negotiating with Annie to make a deal, and that didn't go well with the studio.… We offered it to Rachel McAdams three times," Frankel recalled. "The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it."

Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson and Kirsten Dunst were also among the actresses the studio considered for the role.

Unlike McAdams and the other stars, however, Hathaway was very interested in the role because she felt that "it spoke to me. It made feel. It was about a subject that I take very seriously, but in such a wonderfully joyful and lighthearted way."

According to Elizabeth Gabler, former Fox 2000 president, Hathaway never gave up and even came into studio vice president Carla Hacken's office and wrote in her zen garden, "Hire me."

"I patiently waited until it was my turn, and I got the call. It was the easiest yes in the world," Hathaway said. "I remember the moment I found out I got the part, I just ran screaming through my apartment. I had a bunch of friends over at the time, I just jumped up in the living room and screamed, 'I'm going to be in The Devil Wears Prada!'"

The Oscar-winning actress has long been open about the fact that she was not the first choice to play the role of Andy in the movie. She also spoke about it during a previous interview with "Drag Race" star Rose, who had asked if there were any roles she had to "fight tooth and nail for."

"I will give you some tea: I was the ninth choice for 'Devil Wears Prada'," she was quoted as saying by Harper's Bazaar. "But I got it! Hang in there, never give up."

Meryl Streep, who played Miranda Priestly in the iconic movie, was also eager to do the film. At the time, Hathaway had a small role in "Brokeback Mountain" and she watched the scene. Streep called Tom Rothman at Fox and told him, "Yeah, this girl's great, and I think we'll work well together."

During the interview, Hathaway got candid about filming with Streep, admitting that she was intimidated by the older actress.

"I did feel intimidated, but I always felt cared for. I knew that whatever she was doing to create that fear, I appreciated [because] I also knew she was watching out for me," Hathaway said.

She continued, "There's this scene where [she says], 'You're just as disappointing as the rest of those silly girls.' I remember when the camera turned on me, the pressure really got to me, and I'd had such emotional fluidity in the day up to that point, but it just wasn't there anymore. I remember having the experience of watching [her] watch me, and [she] altered [her] performance ever so slightly, and just made it a little bit different, and brought more out of me and got me to break through whatever barrier I had."