Meryl Streep Almost Didn’t Get “Devil Wears Prada” Role Because Someone Working on Film Thought She Wasn't 'Funny,' Says Producer

"People thought we were crazy," producer Wendy Finerman said of reactions to Streep being cast in the film

Imagine an alternate universe where Meryl Streep wasn’t cast as the iconic Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada.

As shocking as the thought may be, it was almost a reality, according to one of the producers of the 2006 classic film.

On Wednesday, producer Wendy Finerman told Hollywood Gold podcast host Daniela Taplin Lundberg that Streep was almost passed over for the role because someone involved in the production thought "she has never been funny a day in her life."

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According to Finerman, producers “knew” they wanted Anne Hathaway because she was “a good, all-American girl,” but when it came to Streep, they weren’t necessarily sold.

“And Meryl, people thought we were crazy. I mean, I had people call me up and say, ‘Are you out of your mind? She’s never been funny a day in her life,’” Finerman recalled, adding that the naysayers were wrong.

“But this was clearly a different kind of world for her, and I think that that was part of the fun of the unexpected,” the producer added.

Lundberg cited Streep’s comical relief in past films like She-Devil and Death Becomes Her, but said many may associate the 74-year-old with more dramatic roles.

Elsewhere in the interview, Finerman shared a golden nugget about how art imitates life.

During one portion of filming, Streep’s body double didn’t have the clothes needed to shoot a scene in Paris, so Finerman instructed her New York assistant to run home to grab her passport because she was being sent to make the delivery. She even got to fly business class on the free trip abroad to make sure the wardrobe wasn’t stopped and checked.

A total Miranda Priestly move.

Related: Meryl Streep Felt 'Miserable' Playing 'Devil Wears Prada' Character, Emily Blunt Says: She Was 'Terrifying'

However, the Mamma Mia! star previously told Entertainment Weekly that she was “miserable” getting into character to portray the tougher-than-nails fashion magazine editor, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination.

"That's the last time I ever attempted a Method thing!” the actress said in the June 2021 interview.

Earlier this month, Hathaway, 41, and her Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt recalled their first time meeting on the set for Variety's "Actors on Actors" series.

The Princess Diaries alum said Blunt, 40, hadn’t been officially cast as Priestly’s assistant at the time. “In my head — instant thought — I was like, 'What a movie star!' You were shedding stardust.”

"I was so green coming into that situation," the Oppenheimer star said. "And you were like the warmest embrace. Even though you were a colossal movie star at that time, you treated me like a complete equal. You are one of the people I’ve known the longest. We’ve known each other for 18 years."

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