[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”]
“The Devil Wears Prada” was groundbreaking in quite a few methods when it first hit film theaters 20 years in the past – particularly for its razor-sharp satire of the world of excessive trend and its supreme chief, Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The sequel, nonetheless, has totally different energy gamers on its thoughts: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the billionaire couple who’ve remodeled into effigies of the 1%.
That was the thrill out of New York this week, following Monday’s world premiere of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” at Lincoln Center. The filmmakers reserved their incisive commentary not for Wintour or her employees, however for his or her notable pals and benefactors The Bezoses.
Although critiques are embargoed till subsequent week, Variety spoke to 5 individuals who have seen the movie in New York or London, the place it screened on Wednesday evening, a few storyline involving Emily Blunt, the beloved malcontent of the primary movie. Once the social-climbing assistant to Streep’s Priestly, Blunt’s character, additionally named Emily, has developed right into a determine that now very a lot resembles Sánchez Bezos.
Drenched in designer labels and working on the home of Christian Dior, Blunt’s Emily has turn into the pretentious accomplice of a billionaire tech mogul performed by Justin Theroux, sources mentioned. Theroux is claimed to be a mashup of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk – one who undergoes a dramatic physique transformation (the actor is seen in flashbacks sporting layers of “fat” prosthetics) after coming into excessive wealth. And now that he’s match and socially accepted in Miranda’s circle, he lavishly spends on his lovely accomplice, shopping for her no matter she desires. Furthermore, actor Lucy Liu has been solid as Theroux’s first spouse – a do-gooder who strikes by way of the world fixing issues together with her divorce windfall (a nod to MacKenzie Scott, Jeff’s first spouse, who additionally impressed the Maya Rudolph Apple comedy “Loot”).
In mid-April, the New York Times ran a prolonged profile of youngsters’s ebook creator and pilot Sánchez Bezos, chronicling how the once-nebbishy Jeff Bezos has modified within the euphoria of their relationship.
“Now, he is gym-hardened, frequently shirtless, captured mid-laugh in paparazzi photos, canoodling on his megayacht, a man who has discovered joy, love and cosmetic dermatology,” wrote Amy Chozick.
And Blunt’s character is out for revenge. Once a long-suffering underling to Streep’s Priestly, her fortunes have now dramatically reversed. A subplot in “Prada 2” follows Blunt’s efforts to get her oligarch lover to purchase Runway – the franchise’s fictional journal and stand-in for Vogue.
This plot level instantly references a yearslong rumor that the Bezos couple have been kicking the tires on buying Vogue’s writer Condé Nast (which additionally owns The New Yorker, GQ and Vanity Fair, amongst others); a 2025 Vogue digital cowl that includes Sánchez Bezos in her marriage ceremony robe was seen in some circles as a gesture from Wintour to a perspective new boss. In her Times interview, Sánchez Bezos denied the potential of buying Condé, including, “I wish!” But the thought has continued.
A spokesperson for Blunt advised Variety it was “absolutely not true” that her character was primarily based on Sánchez Bezos. Reps for Sánchez Bezos didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. Disney had no touch upon the matter.
In researching the sequel to “Prada,” screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna’s course of reportedly concerned interviewing former and present Condé staff. One supply speculated that the portraits of the Bezoses might have been impressed by Condé journalists brazenly dreading the prospect of the billionaires proudly owning Vogue and having Sánchez calling the pictures. (Bezos’ buy of The Washington Post in 2013 was invigorating at first, however current years have seen intensive layoffs and softer protection of Trump’s second time period within the White House.)
The satire surrounding the couple within the “Prada 2” script comes at a probably awkward time. The Bezoses are co-chairs for this yr’s Met Gala, alongside Wintour, Beyoncé and Nicole Kidman. They will stand atop the Met’s stairs on May 4 beside Wintour, receiving scores of A-listers and moguls on the annual fundraiser. They additionally function monetary sponsors of the occasion.
Wintour herself has been pivotal to the advertising and marketing marketing campaign for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Based on the 2003 roman à clef by Lauren Weisberger, the mission was as soon as a thorn in Wintour’s facet that threatened to derail her legacy. Streep’s beloved ice queen portrayal wasn’t as savage because the ebook, the place the character was a British dictator in designer glasses. Two many years later, the film’s endurance throughout generations has bolstered Wintour’s picture, and the editor has responded in form – embracing the brand new film in sudden methods.
This month, Wintour seems on the quilt of her personal journal with Streep to hype the movie, beneath the banner headline “Seeing Double: When Miranda Met Anna.” She appeared onstage on the Oscars with the movie’s star Anne Hathaway. And on the New York premiere, franchise director Frankel gave opening remarks and mentioned the movie sequence wouldn’t have been doable with Wintour.
Sources on the premiere’s after-party speculated about whether or not Wintour had given her well-known pals the heads-up that they have been mocked in a film that every one of Conde had come as much as help. Other attendees on the premiere included Condé CEO Roger Lynch and Chloe Malle, the pinnacle of editorial content material at Vogue, who made the choice to place Wintour and Streep on the quilt of American Vogue. Another insider mentioned Wintour had not screened the movie till the New York premiere.
This yr’s Met Gala, which is scheduled for the Monday after “The Devil Wears Prada 2” opens, is claimed to lean closely into the movie as a promotional tie-in. The solid is anticipated to attend, that means Blunt may come face-to-face with the lady she parodies. It may additionally present a clumsy second for Blunt’s husband John Krasinski, star of 4 seasons of a “Jack Ryan” sequence and an upcoming spinoff movie at Amazon Prime Video. Bezos stays government chairman of Amazon.
The Bezos presence on the Met Gala is already inflicting different sources of stress. Last week noticed extensive reviews a few poster marketing campaign popping up round New York City, calling for a boycott of “The Bezos Met Gala.” Tied to a guerilla activist group, the posters have referenced “worker exploitation” at Amazon warehouses, in addition to alluded to Amazon’s reported help of the Department of Homeland Security in waves of deportations.
This wouldn’t be the primary time protesters have ruined a Bezos occasion. Their June Venice 2025 marriage ceremony, commemorated by Vogue, was hit with a protest from aggrieved locals – decrying the reported $55 million nuptials for an extreme show of wealth and environmental damages to the Italian metropolis. That form of rebuke to the well-known couple’s wealth might have come as no shock. Their being lampooned by a mission so intently affiliated with Wintour is extra sudden.
