‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Mocks Jeff and Lauren Bezos

[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains mild spoilers for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”]

“The Devil Wears Prada” was groundbreaking in quite a few methods when it first hit film theaters 20 years in the past – specifically for its razor-sharp satire of the world of excessive trend and its supreme chief, Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The sequel, nonetheless, has totally 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 Devil Wears Prada 2” at Lincoln Center. The filmmakers reserved their incisive commentary not for Wintour or her workers, however for his or her notable associates and benefactors The Bezoses.
Although opinions are embargoed till subsequent week, Variety spoke to 5 individuals who have seen the movie in New York or London, the place it was screened on Wednesday evening, a couple of storyline involving Emily Blunt, the beloved malcontent of the primary movie. Once 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 working on the home of Christian Dior, Blunt’s Emily has develop into the pretentious accomplice of a billionaire tech mogul performed by Justin Theroux, sources mentioned. 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 carrying layers of “fat” prosthetics) after coming into excessive wealth. And now that he is match and socially accepted in Miranda’s circle, he lavishly spends on his stunning accomplice, shopping for her no matter she needs. Furthermore, actor Lucy Liu has been solid as Theroux’s first spouse – a do-gooder who strikes by means of the world fixing issues together with her divorce windfall (a nod to MacKenzie Scott, Jeff’s first spouse, who additionally impressed the Maya Rudolph Apple comedy “Loot”).

In mid-April, the New York Times ran a prolonged profile of youngsters’s ebook writer and pilot Sánchez Bezos, chronicling how the once-nebbish Jeff Bezos has modified within the euphoria of their relationship.
“Now, he is gym-hardened, frequently shirtless, captured mid-laugh in paparazzi photos, canoodling on his megayacht, a man who has discovered joy, love and cosmetic dermatology,” wrote Amy Chozick.
And Blunt’s character is out for revenge. Once 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 had been kicking the tires on buying Vogue’s writer Condé Nast (which additionally owns The New Yorker, GQ and Vanity Fair, 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 his Times interview, Sánchez Bezos denied the potential of buying Condé, including, “I wish!” But the thought has persevered.

A spokesperson for Blunt advised Variety it was “absolutely not true” that his 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 might have been impressed by Condé journalists overtly dreading the prospect of the billionaires proudly owning Vogue and having Sánchez calling the photographs. (Bezos’ buy of The Washington Post in 2013 was invigorating at the beginning, however current years have seen in depth layoffs and softer protection of Trump’s second time period within the White House.)

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 will stand atop the Met’s stairs on May 4 beside Wintour, receiving scores from A-listers and moguls on the annual fundraiser. They additionally function monetary sponsors of the occasion.
Wintour herself has been pivotal to the advertising marketing campaign for “The Devil Wears Prada 2.” Based 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 portrayed wasn’t as savage because the ebook, the place the character was a British dictator in designer glasses. Two many years later, the film’s endurance throughout generations has bolstered Wintour’s picture, and the editor has responded in type – 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, below 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 mentioned the movie collection wouldn’t have been attainable with Wintour.

Sources on the premiere’s after-party speculated about whether or not Wintour had given her well-known associates the heads-up that they had been mocked in a film that each one of Conde had come as much as help. Other attendees on the premiere included Condé CEO Roger Lynch and Chloe Malle, the pinnacle of editorial content material at Vogue, who made the choice to place Wintour and Streep on the duvet of American Vogue. Another insider mentioned 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 Devil Wears Prada 2” opens, is alleged to learn closely into the movie as a promotional tie-in. The solid is anticipated to attend, that means Blunt may come face-to-face with the girl she parodies. It may additionally present an ungainly second for Blunt’s husband John Krasinski, star of 4 seasons of a “Jack Ryan” collection and an upcoming spinoff movie at Amazon Prime Video. Bezos stays government chairman of Amazon.
The Bezos presence on the Met Gala is already inflicting different sources of pressure. Last week noticed vast reviews a couple of poster marketing campaign popping up round New York City, calling for a boycott of “The Bezos Met Gala.” Tied to a guerilla activist group, the posters have referenced “worker exploitation” at Amazon warehouses, in addition to alluded to Amazon’s reported help of the Department of Homeland Security in waves of deportations.
This would not be the primary time protesters have ruined a Bezos occasion. Their June Venice 2025 marriage ceremony, commemorated by Vogue, was hit with a protest from aggrieved locals – decrying the reported $55 million nuptials for an extreme show of wealth and environmental damages to the Italian metropolis. That type of rebuke to the well-known couple’s wealth might have come as no shock. Their being lampooned by a venture so carefully affiliated with Wintour is extra sudden.