Miranda Priestly monologue from The Devil Wears Prada

Miranda Priestly’s monologue

In The Devil Wears Prada, the villain monologue is delivered by Meryl Streep. This scene isn't a traditional villain monologue, but it's a powerful moment where Miranda explains the importance of the fashion industry and subtly critiques Andy's (Anne Hathaway) naiveté.

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. 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 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 a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room... from a pile of 'stuff.'

Excerpt for study and audition practice. Read the full play for context.