{"id":60896,"date":"2025-08-12T05:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/60896\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T05:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:28:10","slug":"the-devil-wears-prada-2-freakier-friday-writers-on-nostalgia-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/60896\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Devil\u00a0Wears Prada 2,’ ‘Freakier Friday’ Writers on Nostalgia Trend"},"content":{"rendered":"

A revival of a beloved, iconic film<\/a>? Groundbreaking, as Meryl Streep\u2019s \u201cThe Devil\u00a0Wears Prada\u201d character Miranda Priestly would say. <\/p>\n

But screenwriters, both those returning from some of the aughts\u2019 most beloved films, as well as the writers of new franchise editions for subsequent modern installments, are setting out to do just that: Make a sequel that\u2019s not only great, but necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreakier Friday<\/a>\u201d is the latest film to get the legacyquel spin \u2014 and perhaps one of the first to be critically acclaimed<\/a> as it hits theaters. Of course, \u201cThe Devil\u00a0Wears Prada 2\u201d already has high-brow power: While \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d boasts one Academy Award winner (Jamie Lee Curtis) among its ensemble, \u201cPrada\u201d is led by four Oscar nominees, with Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep both having won statues. (And Streep is reprising her \u201cPrada\u201d role, which she was also nominated for.)<\/p>\n

\"'Our<\/a> \"Spike<\/a> <\/p>\n

The productions of \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d and \u201cThe Devil\u00a0Wears Prada 2\u201d have ignited viral internet fandom, with \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d in part landing a theatrical release<\/a> due to the online support that the announcement of the sequel generated.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreakier Friday\u201d being greenlit further seemed to open the floodgates for more 2000s nostalgic revivals: \u201cPrincess Diaries 3,\u201d<\/a> \u201cBend It Like Beckham 2,\u201d<\/a> \u201cI Know What You Did Last Summer,\u201d \u201cMy Best Friend\u2019s Wedding,\u201d \u201cThe Holiday,\u201d<\/a> and even \u201cAir Bud\u201d are all getting millennial-centric installments. And that\u2019s not even including series sequels to \u201990s properties such as \u201cAnd Just Like That\u201d (RIP<\/a>) and \u201cClueless,\u201d which \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d scribe Jordan Weiss is writing<\/a> for Peacock.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)\u2018Freakier Friday\u2019Glen Wilson<\/p>\n

Are studios mining their existing films with 15th, 20th, and 25th anniversaries in mind, or are screenwriters pitching these revivals in droves based on their own childhood cinematic fandoms? Why is there this seemingly sudden push for rom-coms, or in millennial speak, girly pop films? <\/p>\n

And how much does \u201cBarbie\u201d have to do with all of it?<\/p>\n

IndieWire spoke with<\/a> \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada<\/a> 2\u2033 screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna<\/a>, \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d screenwriter Jordan Weiss<\/a>, and Elyse Hollander<\/a>, who shares a co-story-by credit with Weiss on the \u201cFreaky Friday\u201d sequel, to unpack the nostalgic trend of 2000s films being brought into 2025 and beyond \u2014 and detail which early 21st century films they\u2019re each vying to revive.<\/p>\n

The following interviews<\/a> have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

IndieWire: The overwhelming influx of 2000s films being turned into franchises has really marked a trend in recent years. Why do you think these millennial high concept favorites are getting newfound attention? Is this led by the studios or the creatives? <\/p>\n

Jordan Weiss: It was a combination of legacy producers [Kristin Burr and Andrew Gunn from the 2003 \u201cFreaky Friday\u201d] and millennial executives [such as Disney SVP of development Allison Erlikhman, who is also working on \u201cPrincess Diaries 3\u201d] and a millennial screenwriter, who were all like, \u201cWe either love this movie because we worked on it\u201d or \u201cwe were children when it came out and are obsessed with every part of it.\u201d I think [Allison] being of this generation and having that close tie made her such an asset as a studio executive working on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think these revivals come about in a lot of different ways. Sometimes it\u2019s me picking up the phone and saying, \u201cHey, I have an idea for an interpretation of this piece of IP,\u201d and sometimes it\u2019s a studio saying, \u201cThese two actors have remained in each other\u2019s lives and and are still friends and love each other and want to make another one of these because they\u2019ve stayed so close over 20 years.\u201d And then they find some fresh voices to bring in and help them work on that.<\/p>\n

Aline Brosh McKenna: The desire to do this [\u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2<\/a>\u201c] again came from the creative team. It didn\u2019t come from the studio. The only reason to do something like this is if you have something you want to say, something creative. I\u2019ve certainly been approached with other remakes that, in other contexts, didn\u2019t make sense for me anyway. This was really coming from the folks on the creative team being the first ones coming together and wanting to continue this story.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked to [\u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d director] David Frankel regularly over the last 20 years. A couple of years ago, I started saying to him, \u201cYou know, I actually think that there is a sequel here<\/a> because the world that these characters live in is changing so dramatically and so rapidly. I really feel like there could be something there.\u201d We just started mildly chatting about it, but really, I had no expectation and I was off doing other things. <\/p>\n

McKenna was the showrunner for \u201cCrazy Ex-Girlfriend\u201d and made her directorial debut with rom-com \u201cYour Place or Mine.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Aline, I know that in the 20 years since \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d was released, some actors did publicly shut down the idea of a sequel<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Hathaway\u00a0famously said<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 that she wasn\u2019t sure the film could even warrant any other installments due to the death of the print magazine industry: \u201cI don\u2019t know if there can be [a sequel]. I just think that movie was in a different era. Now everything\u2019s gone so digital and that movie is centered around the concept of producing a physical thing and it\u2019s just, it\u2019s just very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKenna: They all said no [for years]. None of us really felt like it made sense earlier, and then all of a sudden, it really did make sense. <\/p>\n

\"The\u2018The Devil Wears Prada\u2019Fox 2000\/Everett<\/p>\n

So, why now? What made those no\u2019s become yes\u2019s?<\/p>\n

McKenna: One of the original producers of the movie, Wendy Finerman, said, \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to Meryl. If you have something to pitch her, she would like to hear it.\u201d That is really what started the process. The most important consideration was figuring out what a story would be<\/a>, to have a story that would hold up. The only reason to do something like this [a sequel] is if you have something you want to say, something creative. I\u2019ve certainly been approached with other remakes that in other contexts didn\u2019t make sense for me. I felt like this was really about the folks on the creative team from the first one coming together again and wanting to continue this story. And having the original cast<\/a> together was so important.<\/p>\n

For \u201cFreakier Friday,\u201d as a screenwriter joining the franchise with the legacy sequel, was there added pressure since the core original cast was returning, too? <\/p>\n

Hollander: It\u2019s a big risk for everybody involved to come back. You don\u2019t want to ruin the legacy, you want add to it. I was like, \u201cI cannot be responsible for ruining a beloved film and adding to a cash grab, schlock pile that would be once direct to DVD.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weiss: I don\u2019t know, I think there\u2019s a lot of pressure on every film to be great because everybody working on it cares about it a lot, whether it\u2019s streaming or theatrical or of any size, but I think that there are, different challenges and different things that are fun about joining a franchise<\/a>. No matter what IP you\u2019re adapting, whether it\u2019s a comic book or a legacy sequel, you\u2019re still opening a blank document and being tasked with creating an original new story, whether that\u2019s an original story inspired by or including characters from the past or inspired by or including characters from your own personal history. You\u2019re making a new experience for the audience. <\/p>\n

I really don\u2019t feel as though I\u2019m not being given the opportunity to be completely original and creative, even when I\u2019m working as part of like big legacy titles. I feel like this is a privilege. You always want to honor where something came from, whether it came from my own personal heartbreak when I was 16 or whether it came from an amazing movie starring Lindsay Lohan from 2003.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)\u2018Freakier Friday\u2019Glen Wilson<\/p>\n

There are things that are really fun about it when it\u2019s an original, and there are also things that are really fun and special when it\u2019s me getting brought into a group project that\u2019s existed for 25 years or 30 years. Whether it\u2019s original or building off of a piece of IP is of secondary importance to me.<\/p>\n

There have been some backlash about there being \u201ctoo many\u201d legacy sequels announced. Do you think this is a gendered criticism as all of the films receiving their flack are women-led rom-coms? <\/p>\n

McKenna: I don\u2019t think [the criticism is] gendered. I think, from what I can tell, people are really excited about a lot of these, and I know \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d is opening really soon. I really think it just boils down to the story you have to tell. We\u2019re also experiencing our own sense of nostalgia and revisiting a film. I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re hoping to do for an audience, for them to have that feeling of a reunion, too.<\/p>\n

Weiss: The thing that is funny to me is that there\u2019s a lot of conversation now of like, \u201cOh, my God, everything\u2019s a reboot, everything\u2019s a sequel. I miss the \u201990s and early 2000s when everything was original,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cThose were also all remakes.\u201d There are probably so many movies that people don\u2019t realize were actually movies from the \u201930s or \u201940s. I\u2019m like, \u201cHollywood\u2019s built on it<\/a>.\u201d Maybe we\u2019re always re-innovating, but I have embraced it. I think that all of these stories are original, and you still are creating something new. I\u2019ve really tried to be optimistic about the potential with that. If a cynical person wants to say that all [legacy sequels] come from the same cash grab, that\u2019s just not my view of it. But maybe I\u2019ve got rose colored glasses on.<\/p>\n

Hollander: I think the rom-com genre has been everyone\u2019s guilty pleasure, and we need to get rid of the guilt and just accept that it\u2019s super fun and fantastic. And I\u2019ve actually heard that in addition to whatever the online troll comments are, there also has been such a push for romance and a return to big, emotional movie star-driven films that are not about capes and explosions. I think \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d is happening because you have huge movie stars [in it] as well. <\/p>\n

McKenna: \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d really showed that there was an interest in these [legacy sequels]. They really updated [Tom Cruise\u2019s] character to reflect his age and his experience. To me, these don\u2019t necessarily seem like cynical money grabs, which is how I think they\u2019re often portrayed. I think often, as in our case, and as in the case of \u201cTop Gun,\u201d it stems from like a legitimate desire to see these characters again. And in the \u201930s and \u201940s, they routinely made tons of sequels, and there wasn\u2019t an embarrassment about wanting to revisit beloved characters. The audience has asked for more of this and in this case, it just happened over such a long period of time.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)\u2018Freakier Friday\u2019Glen Wilson<\/p>\n

Is this wave of 2000s fandom in Hollywood in part also due to \u201cBarbie\u201d making box office history? What happened to the pause of high concept rom-coms? Did that happen along with the condescension of the \u201cchick flick\u201d genre label<\/a>? <\/p>\n

Hollander: I think it\u2019s realizing there\u2019s still a marketplace for what I like to call DryBar movies. In the early days of DryBar [the salon], you\u2019d go, you\u2019d get a glass of champagne, you get your hair blown out. It was like a very female-centric space and they would have a movie playing, our favorite rom-coms like \u201cHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,\u201d \u201cBride Wars,\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s Just Not That into You,\u201d \u201cNever Been Kissed,\u201d all those great movies. And then at a certain point, someone decided that it wasn\u2019t commercial anymore.<\/p>\n

McKenna: One of the reasons the fandom for [\u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d] and all of these movies is so enduring is because the culture was so much more focused on a few pieces. \u2026 I guess people call it the monoculture, but the audience [in the 2000s] wasn\u2019t as fragmented. So a lot of people did see this movie when it came out, and then it had this amazing life on DVDs which don\u2019t exist anymore, but that was a huge. That extended its life. <\/p>\n

And then the deals that were made for it to be on TV. I mean, [\u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d] is always on TV. \u201cPrada\u201d and \u201c27 Dresses\u201d are on TV just so frequently, and the thing that people say to me the most is, \u201cOh, if that\u2019s on, I\u2019ll watch the whole thing.\u201d It\u2019s not just based on the quality of the movie itself, but also definitely based on a feeling. At the time [in the early 2000s], there was just more of a sense of bringing people together. Everybody watched the \u201cFriends\u201d finale, you know, and so those are all things that you could talk about in common. <\/p>\n

I think, in a way, the popularity of these older movies has something to do with our longing to have something that cuts across the whole culture. I think that drives a lot of the interest and so it\u2019s living on in the internet and on television. This one [\u201cThe Devil Wears Prada\u201d] has lived on, but I also think it represents not just the nostalgia for this particular movie, but sort of a nostalgia for mass moviegoing and a common shared culture.<\/p>\n

Fans of the respective original films have already made set photos for both \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d and \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d go viral. \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d star and producer Jamie Lee Curtis slammed<\/a> the leaked pictures in 2024, calling them an \u201cintrusion<\/a>\u00a0\u2026 into the\u00a0creative process of filmmaking<\/a>.\u201d What is your opinion?<\/p>\n

Weiss: The parasocial relationship between fans and franchises is always interesting to me.<\/p>\n

McKenna: We knew there would be a lot of interest<\/a>. I personally hadn\u2019t experienced this level of people coming out [to the set], but it\u2019s the world we live in. In many ways, we\u2019re speaking to a different world than we did in 2006. \u2026 It stems from like a legitimate desire to see these characters again. As long as everyone\u2019s safe, what an honor that people are still interested.<\/p>\n

How do you approach writing a legacy sequel? Did you always know you wanted to tap into early 2000s IPs? <\/p>\n

Weiss: When I\u2019m looking ahead in my career, it\u2019s less about, \u201cDo I want to reboot this specific title?\u201d and more about deciding I want to do more rom-coms, I want to do more mother-daughter stories. Having the opportunity to do a big rom com that\u2019s original, great, but if I have the opportunity to do a big rom-com that\u2019s the remake of a beloved \u201990s rom-com, also great. If someone is like, \u201cCan you believe you\u2019re working on another reboot?\u201d I would be like, \u201cThis is was completely my original idea.\u201d I think that\u2019s the best way to utilize IP though is to have an independent, original concept and then having it be within the safe haven of an IP so studios can greenlight it.<\/p>\n

I think there\u2019s a lot of crossover<\/a> with stuff. \u201cDollface\u201d was wholly original, but it was taking inspiration from things like \u201cClueless.\u201d Literally Brenda Song\u2019s original character description was \u201cMillennial Cher Horowitz\u201d<\/a> in the script. \u2026 I wish that there would have been more of an audience for \u201cDollface\u201d to last 10 seasons, but I think ultimately like it\u2019s easier to find an audience when you have IP.<\/p>\n

Hollander: I think you can lean into some of those IP titles and use them in a sneaky way in to do something new. In a dream world, every movie could be an interesting small A24 Celine Song, like something that makes you question art in the world and your perspective, and I think there\u2019s space for that. <\/p>\n

After this interview was conducted, it was announced<\/a> that Song is now also getting into the nostalgic reboot game with \u201cMy Best Friend\u2019s Wedding,\u201d which she is writing for Sony.<\/p>\n

I think at the same time too, Hollywood has always been a business where you have to sell a product, whether it\u2019s entertainment or joy or happiness or nostalgia. And it\u2019s your job as the writer to slide in deeper themes that you want to explore. Like a four-way swap and with a blended family storyline across multiple generations [as the \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d plot], I could describe the movie in a way that sounds like an A24 film, like a body horror swap thing, and then you realize, \u201cOh wait, it\u2019s Freaky Friday.\u201d I feel like that\u2019s when it\u2019s really successful, when you\u2019re not sure by the logline what shiny veneer marker it has on it.<\/p>\n

\"Freaky\u2018Freaky Friday\u2019Everett\/Disney<\/p>\n

Are there any other 2000s films you want to reboot? <\/p>\n

Hollander: I\u2019d love for the [\u201990s] \u201cCharlie\u2019s Angels\u201d to come back. I\u2019d love for \u201cBring It On\u201d to return, especially with the rise of \u201cCheer\u201d and the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders series. I\u2019d love to see Kirsten Dunst reprising her role and, what does that look like 20 years later, when you\u2019ve aged out of like being a performer or cheerleader? Kind of make it like an \u201cF1\u201d event that Brad Pitt had.<\/p>\n

McKenna: I remember when I first came to Hollywood, I really wanted to remake \u201cCheaper by the Dozen\u201d because it had been a really successful book and movie way, way back and nobody was interested. I was a baby writer and then that turned out to be a huge hit movie. I don\u2019t even know if people connected it to the fact that it was a remake; it had to stand on its own.<\/p>\n

Aline, would you more open to revisiting any of your past films now after returning to write \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d? And if not, would you be OK with another writer taking on one of your IPs like with what happened with \u201cFreakier Friday\u201d?<\/p>\n

McKenna: I tried to do a TV show with \u201c27 Dresses,\u201d but I haven\u2019t quite gotten there yet. The wedding industry has just exploded since we made that movie. I mean, when I see what young people are going through now with weddings, that seems quaint. I think that\u2019s primed for something. Out of the things I\u2019ve written, I would say that\u2019s the one. I\u2019m not sure that there will be a \u201cWe Bought Another Zoo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFreakier Friday\u201d is currently in theaters. \u201cThe Devil Wears Prada 2\u201d is expected in theaters May 2026. Both are Disney releases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A revival of a beloved, iconic film? Groundbreaking, as Meryl Streep\u2019s \u201cThe Devil\u00a0Wears Prada\u201d character Miranda Priestly would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[32808,32809,96,2332,25979,2580,32810,2839,32811,9019,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-60896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-aline-brosh-mckenna","tag-elyse-hollander","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-freakier-friday","tag-interviews","tag-jordan-weiss","tag-movies","tag-the-devil-wears-prada","tag-the-devil-wears-prada-2","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}