Best Movie Ever

Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway* are awesome--
as are Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt. 

We own The Devil Wears Prada [2006] on DVD. The other morning, Figgy had it on before she left for school at 7:25 A.M. I couldn't resist watching it to the end, until 8:20.

Tonight, I just indulged in the deleted scenes, the gag reel and the trailer--plus the interview with costume designer Patricia Field, director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna. The movie speaks to me so much. What an incredible time capsule and work of art.

I'm nearing 50, but still hold in my heart the thrill of being a young woman starting out in NYC's exciting magazine world. I don't think I'll ever let it go. I'm still passionate about writing for magazines, about seeing my articles in print on the glossy page [or now, on the web], about being in magazine offices.

While this movie was filming, I walked past one of the set trailers--in the Fashion District--on my way to the communications firm I worked at.

So many things in the story and cinematography resonate with me, especially:

• Being a young woman from outside NYC starting out as a glorified secretary for an imperious editor. My first day @ Woman's Day involved a frantic call from the editor-in-chief's assistant about bags the editor needed and phone calls to order several pairs of size 11N shoes for my tall boss, the fashion editor. When the snippy assistant was panicked about bags, I honestly thought she meant bag bags, not handbags. I was clueless.
• Having a boss who delivered some withering comments, just like Meryl Streep does as Miranda Priestly. She once told me when I asked to speak to her, If you tell me you got another job, I'll hang you spread eagle from the ceiling.
• Coming from out of town to Manhattan's glamorous world. I didn't come as far as Andy Sachs [in the film, she's from Cincinnati] but I did come from New Jersey, and definitely had the same naivete about fashion--and the mind frame that magazines would really care about my hard work on the college newspaper.
• The movie's beautiful, beautiful love letter to NYC--via scenes in Central Park, on the museum steps, in Times Square.
• Having to mind my moral compass in the face of some powerful people without one.
• Working with colorful, outspoken, brilliant editors who had so much knowledge under their designer belts.

Oh my God, this movie is so delicious. I applaud Lauren Weisberger for writing the book; I know she went out on a risky limb to do it.

Going to bed now. Good night.

*When Figgy was little, she adored The Princess Diaries, starring Anne Hathaway. She watched the video a gazillion times. So when H. read in the New York Times that the actress was starring in Carousel, we took Figgy. It was a cold, rainy Sunday and we waited by the stage door after the show so Figgy could get her autograph. The actress was so gracious to her, inviting her in and signing the Playbill.