- David Frankel, the film's director, said
Rachel McAdams was "determined" not to take the role. - Other actors, including Natalie Portman and Kate Hudson, were also considered for the role.
Anne Hathaway had to campaign to convince studio executives she was right for the film.
Rachel McAdams was offered the role of Andy Sachs in "
The 2006 fashion comedy, which is set within a fictional magazine modeled on Vogue, turns 15 this year, and all of the film's key cast members, including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and director David Frankel spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the making of the cult classic.
According to Frankel, Fox 2000, the studio that produced the film, wanted an established actor for the role of Andy Sachs. The studio wasn't keen on Hathaway, who at the time was known for roles in teen-oriented films such as "The Princess Diaries" and "Ella Enchanted." The first choice for the role was Rachel McAdams who had just come off the success of "Mean Girls" and "The Notebook."
"We started negotiating with Annie (Anne Hathaway) to make a deal, and that didn't go well with the studio ... We offered it to Rachel McAdams three times," Frankel said. "The studio was determined to have her, and she was determined not to do it."
Other actors, including Natalie Portman, Kate Hudson, Kirsten Dunst, and Scarlett Johansson were also considered for the role before Hathaway who had to campaign to convince the studio executives that she was the right choice.
"It spoke to me. It made me feel. It was about a subject that I take very seriously, but in such a wonderfully joyful and lighthearted way," Hathaway said of the film's script.
Former Fox 2000 president Elizabeth Gabler said that Hathaway's extensive campaigning efforts included entering Fox executive Carla Hacken's office and writing the words "Hire Me" in her zen garden.
"Annie never gave up. She never stopped campaigning,' Gabler said.
However, the studio did not begin to seriously consider Hathaway for the role until Meryl Streep, who stars as the ruthless magazine editor Miranda Priestly, put in a good word.
"Meryl was eager to make the movie, and she said 'let me meet with her.' Brokeback Mountain was about to come out. Annie had a wonderful, small role in that. And Meryl watched that scene from the movie, she met with her and called up Tom Rothman at Fox and said, 'Yeah, this girl's great, and I think we'll work well together,'" Frankel said.
Hathaway said that when she was offered the role, it was "the easiest yes in the world."
"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!''"