Cool and Interesting Things You Never Got

Andy’s planner confirms how quickly she became Miranda’s first assistant.

When Andy is getting ready for her interview, she checks the note she made under March 13 that reads, “8 a.m. Elias-Clarke Human Resources.”

It’s mentioned throughout the film that Andy wants to work for a year before moving to another company, but she actually doesn’t seem to make it that long.

Toward the end of the film, Andy and Miranda go to Paris Fashion Week. The fashion event takes place twice a year, but they attend the one that happens around September or October.

That means that Andy proved herself and earned a promotion to Miranda’s first assistant in less than seven months.

Andy wrote about a variety of topics for her college newspaper.

Andy’s articles from her college newspaper are mentioned a few times throughout the movie, including the opening scene where they’re clearly shown with headlines and full paragraphs.

She tells Miranda that she won an award for one article about a janitors’ union titled, “Garbage piles grow as negotiations crumble.”

The other articles shown are about bus stops and Take Back the Night at Northwestern University, an event that aims to end sexual violence.

Andy probably should’ve known who Miranda Priestly was.

When Andy arrives for her interview, she doesn’t know what position she’s vying for.

She mentions that she already met with Sherry from human resources, so it’s a little odd that she still knows so little about the job.

But even if she didn’t know the exact job she was interviewing for within the large company, it still would’ve made sense for her to have done some research about who the major editors at the different publications are.

When she arrives at the Runway offices, she doesn’t even know Miranda Priestly’s name.

In an allusion to the title, Miranda Priestly is carrying a Prada bag in her first scene.

Miranda is first shown confidently walking into the Runway office as all her employees scatter to make things look perfect for her.

Before viewers even see her face, the shot pans up on Miranda’s outfit, which fittingly includes a gray Prada purse, indicating that she is the “devil” in the film’s title.

She’s also carrying “The Book,” which Emily later explains to Andy is a mock-up of the next Runway issue that’s delivered to Miranda’s house every night so she can make notes.

Runway magazine is based on Vogue.

Although there is a real Runway magazine, the fictional one in the film isn’t based on it.

“The Devil Wears Prada” is based on the book of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, which was inspired by the author’s time as an assistant at Vogue.

There are also many references to real publications throughout the movie.

For example, Miranda is reading the International Herald Tribune when Andy arrives for her interview.

Although the paper stopped being published in 2013, it was in circulation when the film was made in 2006.

The glass doors in the office appear to be labeled incorrectly.

When Andy returns to the Runway offices with her arms full of bags and coffee cups after running errands for Miranda, she pushes through the glass doors toward her boss’ office.

But the handle on the opposite side of the doors reads “push,” which usually implies that the side Andy is on would be “pull.”

In another scene, Emily and another coworker leave through the doors, and they pull on the “push” side.

Everyone from Runway in the lunch line has a salad except for Andy.

On her first day, Andy gets corn chowder for lunch, and Nigel tells her that “cellulite” is one of the main ingredients.

The comment is one of many throughout the film that references an unhealthy obsession with thinness. Andy is later praised for dropping a size, and Emily mentions that she starves herself until she almost passes out to maintain her slender frame.

Based on the trays in the lunch line, it seems to be true that almost everyone at Runway conforms to these unhealthy beauty ideals. Every tray except for Andy’s has a salad on it.

Andy mentions that she’ll miss Nate’s grilled cheeses, but the one he made earlier didn’t look very appetizing.

Despite being a professional chef, Nate’s cooking skills seem pretty subpar.

In one scene, he seems to burn a grilled cheese he makes for Andy, which he says contains “$8 worth of Jarlsberg.”

During their final scene, Andy says that she’ll miss his grilled cheeses when he moves for work, but she didn’t even eat the burnt sandwich earlier in the movie.

Anne Hathaway’s real mom appeared briefly in the film.

When Andy is looking through photos, she pauses on one of her and her parents.

Actress Anne Hathaway is in the center of the picture, and her onscreen dad from the film, David Marshall Grant, is to her right. But instead of hiring an actress to pose as her mother, Hathaway’s real mom, actress Kate McCauley Hathaway, appears to be on her left. 

The theater marquee accurately mentions an actress that was in “Chicago.”

When Andy’s dad comes to visit, they try to see “Chicago” together. But Andy has to spend most of the night finding Miranda a new flight to get her home during a hurricane.

When they walk into the theater, the sign above it reads, “Starring Brooke Shields.”

Although she wasn’t in the show in 2006 when the film takes place, the actress played Roxie Hart for a brief run in late 2005 when they may have filmed the scene.

There are framed covers of Runway throughout the magazine’s office.

Framed covers of Runway can be spotted in the lobby, conference room, and Miranda’s office.

But they only contain the cover images, unlike most real magazine covers that feature dates, article previews, and other callouts.

Miranda’s steak is from a famous NYC restaurant.

Andy goes to Smith and Wollensky to get Miranda’s steak.

The restaurant is a real high-end steak house with a famous location in New York City.

Miranda’s twins read an untitled version of the seventh “Harry Potter” book.

Andy successfully manages to get ahold of the unpublished manuscript for the final “Harry Potter” book for Miranda’s twins.

When the twins are shown reading their copies on the train, the cover reads “Harry Potter Book 7.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” wasn’t published until July 2007, so the title wasn’t publicly known when “The Devil Wears Prada” was being made.

Nate complains about the prices of a real high-end grocery store.

As he’s unloading groceries, Nate jokes that Dean & DeLuca charges $5 for a single strawberry.

The real upscale grocer closed its New York location in 2019, and although it wasn’t quite that expensive, the store was known for its high prices.

Andy’s alma mater is mentioned frequently throughout the film.

As she first mentions during her interview with Miranda, Andy graduated from Northwestern University, where she was the editor of the school’s paper, The Daily Northwestern.

The university is known for its journalism school, so it makes sense Andy went there given her career aspirations.

She later wears a Northwestern sweatshirt, and she also has a magnet from the school on her fridge.

Miranda subtly alludes to a Supreme Court justice turnover while ditching a story.

While in a meeting, Miranda says she wants to pull the piece on Supreme Court women.

She then corrects herself and says “woman.”

In January 2006, Sandra Day O’Connor retired from her position on the US Supreme Court, leaving Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the only woman.