The Devil Wears Prada (2006) - LightShed 6

Very good movie.

As you should know by now, this is the film version for the wildly popular novel The Devil Wears Prada.  Both the book and the movie are really supposed to be based on the hell it is to work for Anna Wintour (seen in a Peta ad below), editor-in-chief of the U.S. edition of Vogue since 1988.  The book and the movie, however, do not use the real Anna.  Our devil in the movie is called Miranda Priestley, and the magazine she runs is called Runway.

Miranda's assistant in the movie is played, well, by Anne Hathaway, and the devil is played by Meryl Streep.  Meryl was fantastic as usual.  She played a deliciously evil bitch who abuses Anne with all sorts of impossible personal and professional tasks.

There was no explicit gay content in the movie, but it was pretty clear to me that Stanley Tucci's character was gay.  In the movie, we see him talking about how he used to go to football practice just to try to be one of the guys, but all he really wanted to do was go and read Runway magazine under his bed covers with a flashlight. 

Also, in one scene, Stanley sort of makes eye contact with a guy, suggesting he was interested in the guy.  But the movie did not give us any hard evidence that he was gay.  Stanley Tucci was portrayed in a great light.  Down to earth, friendly and a very competent professional.  He helped transform Anne into this:

Another bit of possible gay content came to us via Rich Sommer, who is one of Anne Hathaway's friends.  He says early in the movie that he knows about fashion and brands etc. because he is really a girl.  Although that was a pretty good evidence that he was gay, he could have been joking -- that's what it sounded like anyway.  Later, Tracie Thoms, also a friend of Anne Hathaway, says she is going to introduce someone to Rich, someone he would like, but we do not see the actual introduction (it could have been a guy or a girl).  So, no hard evidence here either.  In any event, Rich's character was portrayed positively -- he was a regular guy, with good taste.

I hoped for some real nice gay content in this movie (yes, just because it deals with the fashion world), so I was disappointed that there wasn't much there. 

You should definitely see this movie anyway, it is very entertaining... and it gave us Adrian Grenier (pic on the right), who is kind of cute as Anne's boyfriend.  We also got a little gratuitous shirtless scene with Simon Baker (I like the caterpillar eyebrows). 

Watch the trailer here.

UPDATE ON JULY 6, 2006: Out.com just posted an interview with Stanley Tucci.  Tucci discusses the matter of his sexuality in the movie: "Nigel’s demeanor implies he’s gay, but he never really discusses it. He glances at an attractive man in the film, and he discusses how in his youth he would hide under the covers reading the latest issue of Runway instead of going to soccer practice. Was it your choice to not focus on Nigel’s sexuality? [Tucci's answer:] That’s the way it was written. To me there was no other way to play it. He’s gay. No need to spell it out."

Comments

[william rockwell]

nevermind! duh!

[William Rockwell]

Runway

Miranda

stanley tucci

those are my answers....

how many of us are correct?

[Marcus]

I saw this movie this night (yes, unfortunately the movies came to Brazil "a little" later)
Its a vey light and fun movie, to eat pop corn, laugh and forget the problems for a while.
The soundtrack is so nice! "City of blinding lights" to Paris is perfect!

[Ricardo, Lisbon, Portugal]

I have to agree with Dan, no doubt. It's 2006, for Heaven's sake! It's no longer the time for reading between the lines. I've been doing that for decades now.
But if we're dealing here with «Hollywood mainstream», or anything else of that kind, then why the surprise? I'm still quite astonished about «Brokeback Mountain», just to say the least. Under Bush consulate? Excuse me, but something must really have gone very wrong... Or else, some people are more free than other...

[Dan]

I think it is just the "love that dare not speak it's name" crap in 2006. Why can't they utter the word gay or have some mention of this obvious fact. Perhaps not to offend?

You can't have a movie about fashion without gay characters, yet here we have don't ask don't tell movie about the gayest industry in the world.

[Queer Beacon]

I'm just trying not to assume that every guy who is effeminate (and Stanley wasn't even a super queen) and/or dresses flamboyantly is gay, but you both have a very good point -- it doesn't get much gayer than Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada...

[Ricardo, Lisbon, Portugal]

What's one's imagination good for? Does everything have to be fully explicit these days?
Once again, I suppose, Meryl Strep is great.
«I once had a farm in Africa», I remember so well...

[patrick nyc]

No hard evidence Tucci's caracture was gay? Really?

Did you really need to see him kiss a guy or suck a cock?