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Anne Hathaway says she was the 9th choice for 'Devil Wears Prada' role

One of the best roles on her resume, the iconic part wasn't intended for her... eight times over.
/ Source: TODAY

It’s hard to think of anyone but Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs from “The Devil Wears Prada,” but the actress recently revealed that she almost wasn’t!

The 38-year-old actor made a virtual appearance during Friday’s episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” to give the contestants a pep talk ahead of their musical-theater challenge. Hathaway dropped some of her acting tips along with one of her career struggles involving her iconic role in “The Devil Wears Prada.”

One contestant, Rosé, asked the actress if there were any roles she had to fight for, to which she replied, “How much time do you have? A lot of them”

"I will give you some tea, I was the ninth choice for ‘Devil Wears Prada,’” she said. "But I got it! Hang in there, never give up."

News that she wasn't the first choice is nothing new, but the fact that the list was so long before her is.

According to a 2016 article by Variety, Fox was looking for a bigger name to portray Andy and had their eye initially on Rachel McAdams following her success from “The Notebook” and “Mean Girls." McAdams reportedly declined the studio multiple times because she didn’t want to star in mainstream media.

In 2007, McAdams told Elle, "I'm not going to make movies just to make movies.”

Anne Hathaway in "The Devil Wears Prada."
Anne Hathaway in "The Devil Wears Prada."Alamy Stock Photo

"I have to be passionate about it," she added. "And at the same time, I can get very distracted when I'm working, and I like to get back to my life a lot."

Hathaway previously told Variety that she didn't have to audition, adding, "I had to be patient. I wasn't the first choice."

She recalled getting a call from her agent who broke the good news to her while she was with her friends at her place. “I was putting on a shirt,” she explained. “I had some buddies over. I remember running out in my living room, half dressed, screaming—I got ‘The Devil Wears Prada!’ I got ‘The Devil Wears Prada’!”

Finding their Andy wasn’t Fox’s only difficult casting decision. The role of Nigel, eventually portrayed by Stanley Tucci, wasn’t cast until 72 hours before his character was due on set. Another role that was difficult to fill was that of Emily, the senior assistant to Miranda Priestly.

The film's director, David Frankel, had considered over 100 actors for the role, but none seemed to fit. Emily Blunt was up for the leading role in “Eragon” at the time and was on the Fox lot. A casting agent had her read lines on tape for the role of Emily, choosing to do them in a British accent despite the character being American. Frankel loved the tape and found his Emily, eventually casting her after the other film passed on Blunt.

Maybe everything does happen for a reason. That's all.