“Devil Wears Prada 2” director explains why 1 returning cast member ‘had to die’ in shocking death scene

Key Points

• David Frankel explains why a returning actor “had to die” in the sequel.

• Frankel says the actor “wanted to see his own funeral,” so he came to set to watch his peers film the scene.

• The filmmaker says the shocking death scene is “something you don’t see coming that actually really pivots the story in a fun, dramatic way.”

This article contains spoilers for The Devil Wears Prada 2.

A death scene? For The Devil Wears Prada 2? That’s actually kind of groundbreaking, as director David Frankel tells Entertainment Weekly, the sequel’s shocking twist was definitely meant to catch audiences by surprise.

While the core returning cast — including Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci — emerges relatively unscathed at the end of the sequel, the same can’t be said for actor Tibor Feldman, whose Runway chairman Irv Ravitz was a goner from the start.

“We both knew we needed something dramatic — a dramatic twist,” Frankel tells EW of devising the sequel script with fellow returning creative, writer Aline Brosh McKenna. “Who can we kill? It evolved to Irv. It totally made sense.”

Frankel adds that it became clear Irv “had to die,” as the story’s second half largely hinges on a battle for his successor — and, as a result, the future of Runway magazine.

In the scene, Irv collapses at his birthday celebration, with Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Streep) watching in horror as her longtime colleague keels over at the lavish event.

“It couldn’t just be that he’s in a coma somewhere. Irv had to go,” Frankel says. The businessman’s death paves the way for a pivotal battle for Runway, involving a tussle that sees his son, Jay Ravitz (B.J. Novak), weigh his options. Does he let his insufferable army of finance bro underlings swarm over the media entity, or spin it off to tech titan Benji Barnes (Justin Theroux), an Elon Musk-esque figure whose romance with ex-Runway staffer Emily Charlton (Blunt) fuels his bid to acquire the fashion institution.

“Because you have this takeover, the whole company becomes vulnerable. For us, it kind of recalls the taxi accident with Emily in the first one. It’s something you don’t see coming that actually really pivots the story in a fun, dramatic way,” Frankel says.

Feldman, who also appeared in a small role in the 2006 original, also clearly enjoyed his character’s demise.

“Tibor was great, and he was funny. He wanted to see his own funeral, so he came to the service just to see how Irv was remembered,” recalls Frankel. “The most memorable part of that, aside from the dialogue and Justin’s improvs, which were hilarious: Kenneth Branagh learned to play the violin for that scene. He knew he was playing a violinist; he trained for weeks to learn how to finger and bow, and he was really professional about it. He’s playing there, which is pretty cool.”

Other returning stars include Tracie Thoms and twins Suzanne and Colleen Dengel, who played Miranda’s twin daughters in the first film. Frankel tells EW that he and his team also wanted supermodel Gisele Bündchen to reprise her role as Runway staffer Serena, but scheduling complications around the 2025 birth of the star’s baby prevented her from joining the production.

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He adds that he wanted to fit in a cameo for Adrian Grenier — whom EW previously exclusively revealed wouldn’t return as Andy’s original love interest, Nate — but timing didn’t ultimately work out.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly