Daily Dialogue — January 7, 2019

Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers. Heads turn toward her.

Miranda Priestly: Something funny?
Andy Sachs: No. No, no. Nothing’s… You know, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. You know, I’m still learning about all this stuff and, uh…
Miranda Priestly: ‘This… stuff’? Oh. Okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select… I don’t know… that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise. It’s not lapis. It’s actually cerulean. And you’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent… wasn’t it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.

— The Devil Wears Prada (2006), screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna, novel by Lauren Weisberger

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Boss.

Trivia: The original screenplay was developed before the novel was published, had four credited writers, and read as a spoof of the fashion industry similar to Zoolander (2001). When the novel became a bestseller and director David Frankel got on board, the script was changed to deal with striving for excellence and personal sacrifices for a career.

Dialogue On Dialogue: The Miranda (Meryl Streep) — Andy (Anne Hathaway) boss-assistant relationship lies at the heart of this comedy, and this monologue Miranda delivers is not only biting, it also does something important. It conveys something of Miranda’s world view, one that makes sense to her. That’s critical to writing a compelling character, especially if they provide significant opposition to the Protagonist.