Gawker: devil wears prada

The Assistant Weds

Nick Denton — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:35:04 EDT

Anybody seen Lauren Weisberger's wedding photographs? The Devil Wears Prada author was married this weekend in the Caribbean. We're assuming Anna Wintour, Weisberger's former boss at Vogue and a model of the icy fashion editor in her book, wasn't invited.

Anne Hathaway Named Honorary Bear By Hirsute Homosexual Society

Seth — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 11:58:37 EST

When Anne Hathaway, whose funbag-flashing moment in the back of a car provided Brokeback Mountain audience members a brief respite from the steady onslaught of Heath-on-Jake action, recently attempted to toast the holidays at the Gramercy Park hotel, a doorman failed to recognize the star. (We imagine he has since been chained to a rolling AV cart in the hotel's boiler room with multiple copies of The Princess Diaries and Devil Wears Prada.) Luckily, the NY Daily News reports, she was traveling with her husky, hairy guardian angels in tow:

The "Devil Wears Prada" star was headed with friends to the Gramercy Park Hotel. But while Sean Penn and his party of eight were allowed in right ahead of them, door staff failed to recognize the dressed-down starlet. The velvet rope stayed tightly clamped shut.
Undeterred, her friends (who we can safely say were fans of her role in "Brokeback Mountain") took her instead to Snaxx - a W. 23rd St. bar for burly gay men known as "bears."

"No one hassled her, and she had a great time," said a witness. "It was beer night."

Clearly this anonymous witness must have been new to the sleuth, as any bear worth his berries knows every night is beer night. (For more on bear behavior, watch this short, informative video. SFW!) Still, we'll take his word that she had a hassle-free great time, and that Hathaway wasn't tackled on her way to the keg line by a formation of bearded linebackers insisting she divulge, "OK. Who's the bigger diva...Jake or Meryl?!?!?"

Anne grins and bears it [NY Daily News]
Mystery Date for Bears [YouTube]

Remainders: 72nd Street is the Coop's New Katrina

Jessica — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:00:22 EDT

• On the scene at 72nd Street yesterday, Anderson Cooper looked just like a real reporter. Even off-camera, he's always in character. Intensity! [Flickr]
• Ellen Barkin is finally free of those troublesome jewels, netting herself over $20 million. Her 22.76-carat diamond ring was responsible for $1.8 million of that. Jesus, people — do you know how many African babies you could buy for that kind of money? [The Daily]
• Oh thank you, merciful God: Fashion Week is allowed to stay in Bryant Park. [Papierblog]
• If Ugly Betty is just too, well, ugly for you, don't give up: Fox TV Studios has bought the rights to The Devil Wears Prada and is developing it into a half-hour comedy series. From what we can tell, Lauren Weisberger is not involved in any way, so we've no objections to this new development. [Dark Horizons]
• YouTube hates vaginas. [The Apiary]
• So does the Tokion conference, for that matter. [Wooster Collective]
• Page Six's star map: a rousing success! [Star Map]
• That NYU tuition goes towards making porn available in an academic environment. [The Reeler]
• Con Ed finally places blame for July's massive blackout: not their fault. It was fate, they swear. [Crain's]
• Good, clean fun with gerbils. [Google Video]
• And finally, just because, our favorite lede of the day: "A woman has suffered severe burning to her anus after being struck by lightning which hit her in the mouth and passed right through her body." [News.com.au]

Leslie Fremar Haunts Lauren Weisberger's Dreams

Jessica — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 10:55:50 EDT

Yesterday, Page Six noted that the character of Emily, the fantastically bitchy senior assistant in Devil Wears Prada, was very much based on a real Vogue assistant, though she goes unnamed in the item. We put it out there and, per usual, you responded: Leslie Fremar was Anna Wintour's top slave during Lauren Weisberger's stint as her #2. She's now a stylist (which would corroborate P6's report that she turned to freelance after Vogue) and, in our opinion, she looks rather nice for a "a vindictive and malcontent person determined to make everyones' lives as miserable as hers." Besides, if Fremar in any way tortured Weisberger, she can't be all bad.

Satanic Suspect [Page Six]

Gossip Roundup: Suri's Birth Certificate Does Not a Baby Make

Jessica — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:45:56 EDT

• Suri Cruise does exist, or at least her birth certificate does. Though, strangely, it was issued 20 days after her birth (the hospital's policy is within 10 days of birth), the attendant who signed the certificate wasn't actually in the room during the birth and the person who signed as certifier is unknown, thanks to an illegible signature. How completely not suspicious. [TMZ]
• Lloyd Grove identifies the exact moment when Star Jones and Rosie O'Donnell discovered their mutual hatred: Rosie's appearance on May 12, 2004 sparked an argument about the black vote and an on-air tirade from Star the next day. No apology to Rosie, either — thus paving the way for poop soup.[Lowdown]
• A private equity firm established by U2 nominee and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bono invests $300 million in a video game called "Mercenary 2: World in Flames." The game revolves around a gun-for-hire sent to blow shit up in Venezuela — so long as it's not set in Africa, Bono's cool with that. [Page Six]
• Josh Hartnett is none too pleased when his girl Scarlett Johansson is helicoptered out to the Hamptons by Wilmer Valderrama. The poor guy's just looking out for his sexual health. [Gatecrasher]
• The bitchy senior assistant in Devil Wears Prada is, unsurprisingly, based on a real-life woman who worked with Weisberger before going on to work at, no joke, Prada. So: what's her name? One of you must know. [Page Six]
• At a Good Morning America outing at Bowlmor Lanes, Diane Sawyer falls on her ass for two gutterballs. Finally, an activity in which the woman cannot reach perfection. [R&M (last item)]

Also, Anne Hathaway Looks Nothing Like Lauren Weisberger

Jessica — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:18:52 EDT

We are not shy about our interest in Vogue editor Anna Wintour, whose mystery, influence, and frigid thighs always entertain our fascination with the macabre. But everyone has a limit, and the Devil Wears Prada-inspired scrutiny of Wintour may be ours. Case in point: David Carr (in a column that could only be explained by a daughter dragging him to the film) reminds us today that the editor depicted in Prada is not like Wintour; that Wintour is powerful and has powerful friends; that you can't kill her, you only make her stronger. And if you can handle it, add to these surprising revelations one more epiphany: "Powerful women in the media always get inspected more thoroughly than their male counterparts." Sigh. Hence the column, David?

The Devil Wears Teflon [NYT]

Remainders: Lachlan Sells 11 Spring Street

Jessica — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:33:13 EDT

• Lachlan Murdoch sells 11 Spring Street for an undisclosed sum. That's it. He's gone. And so the dream of carrying his baby in our waiting womb dies. [The Real Estate]
• When Corcoran starts using babies to sell multimillion-dollar lairs, it's time to get those tubes tied. [Copyranter]
• Vogue warhorses so old, senile that they enjoy Devil Wears Prada. [The Watcher]
• Rob Havrilla reviews Madonna on her disco cross: "Holy shit. This is my professional reaction. Holy shit." [VV]
• Robert Downey Jr. has signed a deal to write his memoir for HarperCollins. It'll be just like A Million Little Pieces, but true. [USA Today]
• Seth Mnookin punches a teddy bear. [Seth Mnookin]

'Devil Wears Prada' Director Prefers to Keep His Ass Tightly Clenched

Jessica — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 15:45:59 EDT

In a tossed-off little piece yesterday, Editor & Publisher noted that Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel portrayed newspapers as a "symbol of integrity." In the movie's final scenes, Anne Hathaway interviews for a position at a newspaper:

Just to make sure you get it, the filmmakers show us a kindly older editor, and a newsroom seemingly out of the 1950s with stacks and stacks of documents and papers piled up on desks.

They then add that Frankel reportedly comes from "a newspaper family." Seemingly innocuous (dare we say cute?), but not to Frankel. The director writes to E&P:

"The newspaper office in 'The Devil Wears Prada,' which you characterize as 'out of the 1950s,' is the actual newsroom of The New York Sun, which we shot in the fall of 2005 with no modifications. They actually do have 'stacks and stacks of documents and papers piled up on desks.' And there's nothing 'reportedly' about my coming from a newspaper family; a little actual reporting would reveal that my father, Max Frankel, was executive editor of The New York Times, and my stepmother, Joyce Purnick, is a former columnist and reporter for The Times, which I do still consider 'a symbol of integrity.'"

My, those j-school rejection letters leave deep scars.

Devil Wears Prada, Angel Works for Newspaper [E&P]
Frankel, Director of New 'Prada' Film, Clarifies 'E&P' Item [E&P]

Gawker's Week in Review: It's All About Star

Jessica — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:00:14 EDT

• Star fucking Jones, what are we going to do with you? She's forced off The View, then does a surprise, on-air resignation, then tells People magazine that she was betrayed. Barbara Walters locks her out, and now we're subjected to an endless round of interviews featuring Jones passive-aggressively reflecting on the whole thing. And scene.
• Oh, you best believe Radar is alive and kicking and hiring. Lots of hiring.
• Harper's Bazaar allows Britney Spears to take her clothes off; to make matters worse, the mag forces her nudie pics upon our innocent eyes.
• LA Weekly scribe Nikki Finke is SO NOT INSANE.
• Stephen Colbert and Chris Matthews share their intensely physical manlove with the world.
• It's Devil Wears Prada madness; Anna Wintour will be played by Victoria Principal.
• The Bonnie Fuller backlash never goes out of style.
• Here's the thing with our boy Anderson Cooper: everyone loves him. And yet nobody watches him.
• Charlie Gibson leaves morning television, thus forcing us to watch Good Morning America.
• Another Fake Writer, this time at the Post. Which really isn't that surprising or interesting, come to think of it.
• Harper Lee comes out of hiding, all for the love of Oprah. Really, there's nothing the woman can't do.

The Most Important. Movie. Ever.

Jessica — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 11:57:58 EDT

Unless you've been living under a rock (or, coincidentally, ad-blocking some of the sponsor-driven ephemera on our screen), you're aware that The Devil Wears Prada opens today. If you've been reading the Times, however, you must be FUCKING PUMPED, because really, it's all the Gray Lady can do to not put its coverage of the film on A1. The book/movie has received 16 mentions in the past 30 days, with the recent panty-bunching at a fever pitch this week: four heavily focused articles since Sunday.

So what does it all mean? Times staff field trip to the Loews 34th Street, 2 PM! Buttery goodness is on Sifton!

The Devil Wears Too Much Chanel

Jessica — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 10:23:04 EDT

If you're going to make a movie about the absurdities of the fashion world, you better get it right: Marc Jacobs, Chloe, and Marni. But Thursgay Styles reports that costume's patron saint, Patricia Fields, has totally missed the mark in dressing the characters in The Devil Wears Prada. The wardrobes featured in the film, sniff the haughty, pretty ladies who would know, are nothing like reality — Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are decked in layers of stuffy couture and gold metalwear, with none of the quirks that make one truly fabulous. Tens of thousands of dollars' worth of handbags are flung about, but in real life, very few ladies at 4 Times Square carry an "it" bag. The fashions in Prada, says Elle fashion news director Anne Slowey, are "a caricature." How gauche.

So, to clarify: fashionistas are complaining because the costumes in a movie are too costume-y. Bitches have to look perfect, even when they're being mocked.

The Duds of 'The Devil Wears Prada' [NYT]

Maureen: Bosses of the World, Unite!

Jesse — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 17:00:35 EDT

So did you read Maureen Dowd today? While her beloved Washington, D.C., is submerged underwater, while a study published in her newspaper yesterday revealed unprecedented and mind-boggling waste and corruption with Katrina-relief funds, while the White House is deflecting attention from its disastrous execution of the war on terror by instead rattling its sabers at her employer, and while it suddenly seems the whole Israel/Palestinian thing will finally, irrevocably spiral out of control, what does one of the country's most influential newspaper columnists write about? Duh. Whether Miranda Priestly, the fictional Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada, was really too hard on her assistant. Even more surprising: Her verdict.

Is it so wrong of Miranda to expect her assistant, Andy Sachs (played by Anne Hathaway), to know how to spell Gabbana, reach Donatella and ban freesia? Is it so bad to want help getting a warm rhubarb compote for Michael Kors? Or to have an assistant who knows what an eyelash curler is?

Well, then. It seems that in Maureen's world, like in Miranda's, assistants, at least, will always be necessary.

Sympathy for the Devil [NYT]

Free Coffee for NYC's Indentured Servants

Jessica — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 10:45:20 EDT

If you've not had it marked on your calendar, from 2 - 4 PM today, flogged and browbeaten assistants everywhere can enjoy a free cup of coffee on behalf of the marketing team behind The Devil Wears Prada. At the very least, think of it as an excuse to take an extra smoke break. According to the release, the promotion is open to anyone who works in an "office," so we take that to mean that pretty much anyone, cubicle slave or not, can grab a freebie at participating locations. Just don't tell your boss — the bitch'll probably make you grab her a cup, too.

Where to get your freebie in NYC:

Cafe Duke (closest to Conde)
1450 Broadway Ground Floor
The Grand Caf
230 Park Ave.
Caf Express
348 7th Ave
Toasties at Union Square
25 Union Square West
Headline News
250 Broadway
Headline News
770 Broadway
Headline News
111 8th Ave
Benvenuto Caffe
950 Broadway
Klatch
9-11 Maiden Lane
Kudo Beans
49 1st Ave

Full list of national locations after the jump.

'CATCH A BREAK' THIS TUESDAY
WITH THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA NATIONAL COFFEE BREAK DAY

Overworked Java-Lovers Invited to Take a Much-Deserved Break June 27!

LOS ANGELES, June 23, 2006...It's time for the nation's beleaguered workforce to catch a break - on their own special day. On June 27, the new motion picture The Devil Wears Prada invites office employees across the country to enjoy a free coffee beverage, between 2:00-4:00pm, at a specially selected caf or market in their area. In recognition of overworked assistants everywhere, The Devil Wears Prada declares it National Coffee Break Day.

ATLANTA

Joe's East Atlanta Coffee Shop
510 Flat Shoals Ave.

Java Vino
579 N. Highland Ave.

Javito
581 Edgewood Ave.

Caffe Lisette
3489 Ste D Chamblee Tucker Rd

Gold Star Caf and Bakery
903 Peachtree Street

BOSTON

Capital Coffee House
122 Bowdoin St.

Boston Coffee Exchange
101 Arch St.

99 Lobby Shoppe
99 High St.

CHICAGO

Caffe Baci
231 S. La Salle St.

Caffe Baci
332 S. Michigan Ave.

Capra's
46 S. Clark Street

Caffe Baci
225 W. Wacker

LOS ANGELES

Infuzion Caf
1149 3rd St #100

Normandie Coffee
9201 Sunset Blvd.

Juddi's Deli
433 N Bedford Dr.

California Coffee Seletto
434 N. Camden Dr.

Coffee Zinio
1731 Westwood Blvd.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
8793 Roberston Blvd. @ Beverly

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
233 S. Beverly Dr.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
7915 Sunset Blvd. @ Hayworth

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
829 Wilshire Blvd. @ 9th

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
8735 Santa Monica Blvd.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
18 S. Fair Oaks

NEW YORK

Cafe Duke
1450 Broadway Ground Floor

The Grand Caf
230 Park Ave.

Caf Express
348 7th Ave

Toasties at Union Square
25 Union Square West

Headline News
250 Broadway

Headline News
770 Broadway

Headline News
111 8th Ave

Benvenuto Caffe
950 Broadway

Klatch
9-11 Maiden Lane

Kudo Beans
49 1st Ave

SAN FRANCISCO

Caffe Amici
155 Montgomery St.

Fida's
350 California St.

Diller's
348 Pine Street

Max's Market
555 California Street

Tasili Caf
345 Spear Street Suite 123

SEATTLE

Ellen's Coffee Company
1201 3rd Ave

Midtown Espresso
2133A 5th Ave

Ancient Grounds
1220 1st Ave

Espresso Caffe Dior
725 Pike St.

Espresso by Design
511 Mead St.

WASHINGTON, DC

Cornerstone Caf
1501 M St NW

Mochaberry
1700 N Moore St.

Sip of Seattle
1120 G St NW

Larry's Cookies
800 K Street NW

June Coffee
225 Reanekers Ln. Ste. GR1

Anne Hathaway And Stanley Tucci To Star In Fox Searchlight's Coming-Of-Age Drama 'The Melon Harvest'

Mark — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:48:06 EDT

Sometimes a gossip item arrives so perfectly absurd and fully formed that it requires no embellishment, just our ability to cut, paste, and bask in its melon-mauling glory. From Page Six:

ANNE Hathaway says Stanley Tucci was a real hands-on guy when they made "The Devil Wears Prada." "He would just smack me in my boob and elbow me," Hathaway told journos at the New York premiere. "If you're a girl, you know that hurts, so, after about the fourth time, I finally said: 'Stanley, can you please stay away from my t - - s?' He got really flustered and said: 'What do you expect? You're flinging those melons around like it's harvest season.' "

It's really the perfect premiere-night anecdote, a light-hearted tale from the set that demonstrates the chemistry between the movie's charismatic, up-and-coming star and her quirky, supporting castmate with an endearing, if occasionally violent, breast-on-elbow fetish.

MELON HARVEST [Page Six]

Gossip Roundup: Justin Timberlake Realizes Cameron Diaz Is Inappropriately Old for Him

Jessica — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 12:15:19 EDT

• Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz may be completely done, though the couple is reportedly keeping the news under wraps. Better to let the press focus on Diaz's rumored nose job, right? [Janet Charlton]
• Stanley Tucci repeatedly elbows and smacks Anne Hathaway's breasts, explaining that he can't help it because she's "flinging those melons around like it's harvest season." Sexual harrassers in offices everywhere now have a new defense. [Page Six]
• Is Meredith Vieira stealing humorous small talk from, of all pathetic things, Pepper Dennis plotlines? [Lowdown (3rd item)]
• Director Robert Altman would like to introduce you to his friend, Bongjohn Silver. [R&M]
• Crisis abroad: Courtney Love to appear in West End "classic." [Fox411]
• Phil Collins is doing WCBS anchor Dana Tyler. Why do we care? Because if we can't get "Su Su Sudio" out of our heads, then you're going to suffer with us. [Page Six]

Just Another Day 'Round Conde Nast

Jessica — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 16:00:45 EDT

PETA, never to leave a protest opportunity unexploited, took their pleather parade to 4 Times Square during lunch today. Next up, they'll dump red paint on Meryl Streep — the suits at 20th Century Fox just wet themselves over this kind of free synergy.

Gossip Roundup: Wherein We Like Anna Wintour

Jessica — Thu, 25 May 2006 12:47:22 EDT

• Everything we've ever said about Anna Wintour? Well, we don't take it back — she's still a scary snowlady. But she also took Meryl Streep up on her invite and showed up to a VIP screening of The Devil Wears Prada and managed not to strangle Lauren Weisberger while there. May every woman have such grace and inner strength. [R&M]
• If you want the cover of Vanity Fair, you can't just be hot or an A-lister. You have to rat on something or someone — Nicole Richie lost the cover because she wouldn't discuss much regarding Paris; Vince Vaughn got bumped because he refused to talk about Jennifer Aniston; Britney Spears lost her shot because she wouldn't talk about her marriage. But Anderson Cooper scores the glossy crown because he lets them reprint shit he wrote in his book? [Page Six]
• Unless she pops sometime soon, Angelina Jolie will have labor induced sometime in the first week of June. Start planning your Mr. & Mrs. Smith celebratory viewing party now! [IMDb]
• Incarcerated publicity whore Jason Itzler calls Lloyd Grove, asks to be in the Daily News. Lloyd obliges, revealing that he's nothing more than a gossip with a heart of gold and weakness for pimps. [Lowdown]
• Britney Spears copes with K-Fed by writing poetry. Painful, gut-wrenching, confusing poetry. [#8226; After scoring her lead role on Desperate Housewives, Teri Hatcher ditched longtime manager Eli Selden when Selden was diagnosed with breast cancer. Hatcher reportedly told Selden that she couldn't focus on Hatcher, what with the chemo and all. You know, it's always the "woe is me" types who end up being the bitches. [Page Six]

The Devil Wore Prada in 5th Grade

Jessica — Wed, 24 May 2006 12:40:29 EDT

Click to enlarge.

Because it's Wednesday and, well, just because, Consumerist editor Ben Popken would like everyone to know that he went to elementary school with Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway in Millburn, New Jersey. We figured it was worth sharing, if only to help Anna Wintour build her surveillance file.

Media Bubble: The Joys of Renegotiating Your Contract

Jesse — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:20:49 EDT

• Bonnie's rich AMI contract is up at the end of June, and — as one of her mags gets shut down and another's redesign is more or less undone — negotiations are underway. Great timing, eh? [NYP (second item)]
• Newspapers execs met in Chicago, surrounded by dinosaur skeletons. Sexy Jon Fine enjoys that metaphor, as he should. [BizWeek]
• Who does Spin hire to replenish its now-virtually-empty staff ranks? An alt-porn auteur and star, naturally. [FBNY]
• Injured ABC anchor Bob Woodruff sends note to colleagues, releases photo. We're very pleasantly surprised to see that he does, in fact, still look like an anchorman. [AP/USAT]
• Forward politics writer E.J. Kessler to move to New York Post op-ed gig. Because people jump from socialist to conservative papers all the time. [Forward]
• All the standard kvetches about media? Wrong, wrong, and wrong, says Bill Powers. [NJ]
• Arthur Gregg Sulzberger, the son of Pinch who we've attempted to saddle with the nickname Prince, to leave the Providence Journal for The Oregonian in Portland. Wonder where he'll end up? [Providence Phoenix]
• NYT Congress reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg to become paper's White House reporter. [Media Mob/NYO]
• The Voice loses another, this time investigative reporter Jennifer Gonnerman. [Media Mob/NYO]
• Are Conde Nast editors being shut out of Devil Wears Prada screenings? Um, no. [WWD]

Morning Link Dump: What We Missed While Helping Conde Fix Their Email

Jessica — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 09:06:57 EST

• Universal good-time guy Gary Busey is arrested at LAX for assaulting a female police officer. Always prepared, Busey was traveling with his attorney, who tried to take pictures of the arrest and was promptly greeted with an officer's gun. [Jossip]
• Starving dwarf Mary-Kate Olsen wants to make and star in a movie about Kate Moss, believing she has the right amount of "edginess" to play the troubled supermodel. That, and they both share the same dealer. [Contact Music]
• Meanwhile, MK and sister Ashley's new ads for Badgley Mishka make us want to come and play with them forever. [Gilded Moose]
• Rock mag Spin finally looks to have a buyer for somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million, which should almost cover the cost of EIC Sia Michel's stiletto collection. [Folio]
• In a rare fit of good sporting, Vogue stylelord Anna Wintour contemplates throwing a small luncheon for the mag's assistants just prior to the premiere of Devil Wears Prada, complete with Prada gift bags. Too bad the poor slave children will be too afraid to eat or enjoy themselves. [Telegraph]
• Yes, your ass does look big in those jeans. Finally, some closure. [DMALFTP]