Gay Best Friend: Nigel in "The Devil Wears Prada"

In this series by Christopher James we investigate the 'Gay Best Friend' trope in movies.

With the release of The Prom this Friday, people have been talking about the ethics of straight men taking on gay roles. As Nathaniel noted in his review, James Corden’s limp wrist and flouncy take on Barry is a tone deaf disaster. A large part of this comes from him, a straight man, constantly feeling like he must don exaggerated gay affectations rather than actually sketching out a three dimensional character. In 2020, we are in a place where we do have big name, openly gay actors more than qualified to tackle the gay roles that Hollywood writes.

While queer people should be prioritized when telling queer stories, there are many great gay performances by straight men. Perhaps one of the strongest examples is Stanley Tucci as Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada. While it’s clear from the jump that Nigel is gay, Tucci doesn’t “play” into the stereotype. Instead, his first point of reference for Nigel is a driven professional who is comfortably hyper-confident in his field...

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What should have been Meryl's third?

by Cláudio Alves

Daniel Day-Lewis may be the best triple Oscar winner among actors, but that doesn't mean he's the best performer of the bunch. It just means that he's had the luck of getting awards for his very best efforts. Historically, if we can count on the Academy for something it is to award the right people for the wrong movies. That started early -- Katharine Hepburn won her first Oscar for Morning Glory in the same year she was eligible for George Cukor's Little Women?

In any case, neither Hepburn or Day-Lewis are the subjects of this piece. That would be Meryl Streep, the most nominated actor ever and proud winner of three Oscars. Her first two victories, for Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie's Choice, are usually considered among the best in their respective categories, but the same can't be said for her third triumph...

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Beauty vs Beast: Devils of the Details

Jason from MNPP here with a "Beauty vs Beast" first -- last week when we had you face down the leading ladies of The Devil Wears Prada for its 13th anniversary several of you took to the comments with a suggestion of another competition from this film that you desired, and I thought it fine enough to bring us back here just one week later. The film really is a four-hander -- venture outside of the Runway offices and it falls apart, but the casting done to fill out those fashion hallways was divine. So let's hit up those other two class acts...

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PREVIOUSLY The winner of last week's DWP competition was of course, with little surprise, Meryl Streep's De La Renta swathed demoness Miranda Priestley, with 84% of your vote. Said Val:

"Hathaway is wonderful here. The movie wouldn't work at all if her transformation wasn't believable, but let's be for real, in a movie with plenty of stars turns, there is very much one sun at the center. Streep makes Miranda's quiet wrath a thing of beauty. Minimal tricks (at least they aren't showing here), just a great actor clearly enjoying a great role."

Serious Lip-synching skills. That's all.

Well, you’ve been asking for her. Ladies and gentlemen: Miranda Priestly 👠 pic.twitter.com/4En4f61m1n

— Ben Yahr (@benyahr) July 12, 2019

Beauty vs Beast: Say it With Cerulean

Jason Adams of MNPP here with your brand new edition of our "Beauty vs Beast" poll -- not to over-Meryl us (does such a thing exist?) with two Meryl polls in the span of three weeks on top of her much-talked-about turn on Big Little Lies, but it was the 13th anniversary of The Devil Wears Prada back on June 30th and it suddenly struck me like a very expensive coat in the face that, blasphemy of blasphemies, we have never done a Prada Edition for this series. I KNOW!! Insert a gif of one of Miranda's withering glares here. Shameful. So let's see if the Anne-Hatha-lovers have any tricks up their designer sleeves...

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PREVIOUSLY Last week between bouts of Meryl we tackled another queen of screen Olivia de Havilland, and while she may not have taken down Ryan Murphy with her Feud-based lawsuit Livvy at least got one over on that other queen Monty Clift, taking 59% of your Heiress vote. Said joel6:

"Morris is a beauty and perhaps Catherine is too naive but that's her father's fault not hers. Morris is a low down gutter snake that gets exactly what he deserves and seeing Catherine serve it up to him is sweetness itself. Olivia de Havilland gave several great performances but this is the cherry on top of the cake! Wishing her all the best as an awesome 103 year old and as long as her health holds may she see many more birthdays!"