[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”]
“The Satan Wears Prada” was groundbreaking in quite a few methods when it first hit film theaters 20 years in the past – particularly for its razor-sharp satire of the world of excessive style and its supreme chief, Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The sequel, nevertheless, has completely different energy gamers on its thoughts: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the billionaire couple who’ve reworked into effigies of the 1%.
That was the thrill out of New York this week, following Monday’s world premiere of “The Satan Wears Prada 2” at Lincoln Heart. The filmmakers reserved their incisive commentary not for Wintour or her workers, however for his or her notable pals and benefactors The Bezoses.
Though evaluations are embargoed till subsequent week, Selection spoke to 5 individuals who have seen the movie in New York or London, the place it screened on Wednesday night time, a couple of storyline involving Emily Blunt, the beloved malcontent of the primary movie. As soon as the social-climbing assistant to Streep’s Priestly, Blunt’s character, additionally named Emily, has advanced right into a determine that now very a lot resembles Sánchez Bezos.
Drenched in designer labels and dealing on the home of Christian Dior, Blunt’s Emily has grow to be the pretentious companion of a billionaire tech mogul performed by Justin Theroux, sources stated. Theroux is alleged to be a mashup of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk – one who undergoes a dramatic physique transformation (the actor is seen in flashbacks sporting layers of “fats” prosthetics) after coming into excessive wealth. And now that he’s match and socially accepted in Miranda’s circle, he lavishly spends on his lovely companion, shopping for her no matter she needs. Moreover, actor Lucy Liu has been solid as Theroux’s first spouse – a do-gooder who strikes by means of the world fixing issues along with her divorce windfall (a nod to MacKenzie Bezos, Jeff’s first spouse, who additionally impressed the Maya Rudolph Apple comedy “Loot”).
In mid-April, the New York Instances ran a prolonged profile of youngsters’s e book creator and pilot Sánchez Bezos, chronicling how the once-nebbishy Jeff Bezos has modified within the euphoria of their relationship.
“Now, he’s gym-hardened, often shirtless, captured mid-laugh in paparazzi images, canoodling on his megayacht, a person who has found pleasure, love and beauty dermatology,” wrote Amy Chozick.
And Blunt’s character is out for revenge. As soon as a long-suffering underling to Streep’s Priestly, her fortunes have now dramatically reversed. A subplot in “Prada 2” follows Blunt’s efforts to get her oligarch lover to purchase Runway – the franchise’s fictional journal and stand-in for Vogue.
This plot level straight references a yearslong rumor that the Bezos couple have been kicking the tires on buying Vogue’s writer Condé Nast (which additionally prints The New Yorker, GQ and Self-importance Truthful, amongst others); a 2025 Vogue digital cowl that includes Sánchez Bezos in her marriage ceremony robe was seen in some circles as a gesture from Wintour to a perspective new boss. In her Instances interview, Sánchez Bezos denied the potential of buying Condé, including, “I want!” However the concept has continued.
A spokesperson for Blunt advised Selection it was “completely not true” that her character was primarily based on Sánchez Bezos. Reps for Sánchez Bezos didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark. Disney had no touch upon the matter.
In researching the sequel to “Prada,” screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna’s course of reportedly concerned interviewing former and present Condé staff. One supply speculated that the portraits of the Bezoses could have been impressed by Condé journalists overtly dreading the prospect of the billionaires proudly owning Vogue and having Sánchez calling the pictures. (Bezos’ buy of The Washington Submit in 2013 was invigorating at the beginning, however in recent times has seen intensive layoffs and softer protection of Trump’s second time period within the White Home.)
The satire surrounding the couple within the “Prada 2” script comes at a probably awkward time. The Bezoses are co-chairs for this 12 months’s Met Gala, alongside Wintour, Beyoncé and Nicole Kidman. They may stand atop the Met’s stairs on Could 4 beside Wintour, receiving scores of A-listers and moguls on the annual fundraiser. In addition they function monetary sponsors of the occasion.
Wintour herself has been pivotal to the advertising marketing campaign for “The Satan Wears Prada 2.” Based mostly on the 2003 roman à clef by Lauren Weisberger, the venture was as soon as a thorn in Wintour’s aspect that threatened to derail her legacy. Streep’s beloved ice queen portrayal wasn’t as savage because the e book, the place the character was a British dictator in designer glasses. Twenty years later, the film’s endurance throughout generations has bolstered Wintour’s picture, and the editor has responded in form – embracing the brand new film in sudden methods.
This month, Wintour seems on the duvet of her personal journal with Streep to hype the movie, underneath the banner headline “Seeing Double: When Miranda Met Anna.” She appeared onstage on the Oscars with the movie’s star Anne Hathaway. And on the New York premiere, franchise director Frankel gave opening remarks and stated the movie sequence wouldn’t have been potential with Wintour.
Sources on the premiere’s after-party speculated about whether or not Wintour had given her well-known pals the heads-up that they have been mocked in a film that each one of Conde had come as much as help. Different attendees on the premiere included Condé CEO Roger Lynch and Chloe Malle, the top of editorial content material at Vogue, who made the choice to place Wintour and Streep on the duvet of American Vogue. One other insider stated Wintour had not screened the movie till the New York premiere.
This 12 months’s Met Gala, which is scheduled for the Monday after “The Satan Wears Prada 2” opens, is alleged to lean closely into the movie as a promotional tie-in. The solid is anticipated to attend, which means Blunt might come face-to-face with the lady she parodies. It could additionally present a clumsy second for Blunt’s husband John Krasinski, star of 4 seasons of a “Jack Ryan” sequence and an upcoming spinoff movie at Amazon Prime Video. Bezos stays govt chairman of Amazon.
The Bezos presence on the Met Gala is already inflicting different sources of pressure. Final week noticed broad reviews a couple of poster marketing campaign popping up round New York Metropolis, calling for a boycott of “The Bezos Met Gala.” Tied to a guerilla activist group, the posters have referenced “employee exploitation” at Amazon warehouses, in addition to alluded to Amazon’s reported help of the Division of Homeland Safety in waves of deportations.
This wouldn’t be the primary time protesters have ruined a Bezos occasion. Their June 2025 marriage ceremony, commemorated by Vogue, was hit with a protest from aggrieved locals – decrying the reporting $55 million nuptials for an extreme show of wealth and environmental damages to the Italian metropolis. That form of rebuke to the well-known couple’s wealth could have come as no shock. Their being lampooned by a venture so intently affiliated with Wintour is extra sudden.
