Meryl Streep stopped method acting after 'Devil Wears Prada': 'I was so depressed'

Everybody feared Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, even Meryl Streep.

Streep played Priestly, the icy and powerful editor-in-chief of fictional high-fashion magazine Runway with little time for anybody and anything else. The three-time Oscar-winning actress described the emotional toll the role took on her for Entertainment Weekly's oral history of the 2006 dramedy.

"It was horrible!" Streep admitted. "I was [miserable] in my trailer. I could hear them all rocking and laughing. I was so depressed! I said, 'Well, it's the price you pay for being boss!' That's the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!"

Anne Hathaway played Andy, who begins the movie desperate for her first journalism job out of college but loses herself when she shockingly lands a job as Priestly's assistant. According to director David Frankel, Hathaway employed similar method tactics:

"Annie was totally committed to the dark side, to the suffering. ... There's a lovely scene with Stanley [Tucci], where she's getting yelled at, she's ready to quit. ... We were setting up the shot, and I was like, 'Where's Annie?' She was hunkered down in a corner of the set, and she had Madame Butterfly, the opera, playing in her head, going to her sad place. She said, 'Just start rolling, and I'll walk in,' and she came in and was really teary."

Streep was nominated for best actress at the 79th Academy Awards, and Devil Wears Prada also received a nod for best achievement in costume design.

The Devil Wears Prada debuted in theaters June 30, 2006, and somehow, the cast reunited for the oral history to commemorate the 15th anniversary. Watch video component below.

More must-reads:

TODAY'S BEST
The most influential movies ever made
20 period pieces you should watch
Longtime ‘SportsCenter’ anchor announces he is leaving ESPN
Second chances: Notable bands and musicians who experienced a career resurgence
The 25 most entertaining horror movies
The 20 concert tours you can't miss in 2024
20 albums turning 50 in 2024
The 20 greatest heist movies
20 movies that should be adapted into musicals
Super Bowl LVIII halftime show takeaways
Brad Pitt shades Eagles while praising Philly superfan Bradley Cooper
The 20 best modern rom-coms
20 performances that thwarted audience expectations
Comedy gold: 20 funny films that won an Oscar
23 actors that need to have a renaissance
The best karaoke songs from the 2020s
20 great movies that didn’t get nominated at the 2024 Oscars
The 25 best movies about high-school sports
The 23 best films of 2023
The 50 best albums of 2023