Anna Wintour’s Cut Cameo: How a Botched Scene Kept the Vogue Editor Out of ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’

Key facts

• Anna Wintour filmed a cameo for The Devil Wears Prada 2 but it was cut after she 'jumped her cue' and director David Frankel did not ask for a second take.
• The sequel features cameos from Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell, Tina Brown, Jon Batiste, and Amelia Dimoldenberg.
• Wintour recently softened her stance on the film, praising it on a New Yorker podcast and appearing with Meryl Streep on a Vogue cover.
• More than 20 of Wintour’s former assistants attended a Vogue Book Club screening of the sequel at Metrograph in New York.
• Former assistant Kate Young, now a celebrity stylist, called Andy Sachs 'a terrible assistant' and said she loved the job despite its drudgery.
• Billy Norwich, a longtime Vogue writer, revived a 100-question culture test he devised to screen assistant applicants.
• The film opens next week; advance screenings have been held with strict no-spoiler policies.

The Cameo That Wasn’t

Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor-in-chief whose persona looms over the entire Devil Wears Prada franchise, will not appear in the sequel after all. She filmed a scene for The Devil Wears Prada 2, but director David Frankel cut it when she 'jumped her cue'—and he did not dare ask for a second take. The decision preserves Wintour’s carefully cultivated mystique, but it denies audiences the meta-moment they had been anticipating for months. Wintour’s absence is especially conspicuous given the sequel’s sprawling cameo list. The film packs in Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, Naomi Campbell, Tina Brown, Jon Batiste, and Amelia Dimoldenberg, among others. Yet the one person whose presence would have completed the circle—the woman who inspired Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly—remains offscreen.

A Sudden Thaw, Then a Stumble

For years, Wintour avoided discussing the 2006 film, even as designers reportedly steered clear of cameo appearances in the original for fear of offending her. She attended the premiere but remained silent on the subject. That changed recently: she offered fond words about the film on a New Yorker podcast and appeared alongside Streep on a Vogue cover, sparking speculation that she might appear in the sequel. But the cameo was not to be. Wintour flubbed her timing, and he chose not to ask for a retake. The result is a missed opportunity that may ultimately serve Wintour’s legend better than a screen appearance would have. Her power derives from her unknowability; putting her onscreen risked shattering the glassy aura that has defined her for decades.

The Reunion of Wintour’s Former Assistants

At an advance screening hosted by Vogue Book Club at Metrograph in New York, more than twenty of Wintour’s former assistants gathered—a rare sight, given that Wintour employs only three assistants at a time. The room included Vera Wang, herself a former assistant, and Caroline Palmer, whose book Workhorse recounts her years at Vogue. The evening felt like a reunion of survivors from a shared institution. Kate Young, now a celebrity stylist, and Billy Norwich, a longtime Vogue writer, participated in a post-screening conversation recorded for Vogue’s The Run-Through podcast. Young offered a sharp reassessment of the film’s protagonist: 'She’s a terrible assistant. She should have got fired,' she said, adding that Andy’s boyfriend was 'the worst.' Yet she admitted she loved the job, even the tasks the book cast as drudgery. 'I opened the closet and unzipped it and thought—wow, cool. I had never seen couture before.'

The Culture Test and Office Lore

Norwich revived a legendary artifact from Vogue’s past: a 100-question culture test he devised to screen aspiring assistants. The quiz, built from figures who formed Vogue’s 'constant cast of characters,' was recently resurrected by The New York Times and went viral. Norwich explained that he and Charles Gandee designed it to weed out candidates who 'never read Vogue.' Young recalled the book’s first arrival in the office: Lisa Love passed around galleys through interoffice mail, and assistants sneaked them down to the loading dock at Four Times Square to read aloud between cigarettes. 'It was horrible,' Young said of recognizing the satire. 'She was making fun of us.' But the mockery, she suggested, was part of what made the place thrilling. 'Everyone worked so hard. Everyone was so smart…they could talk about shoes for a day.'

The Stakes of a Bad Cameo

The decision to cut Wintour’s scene may have been wise. A poorly executed cameo can derail a film, as when Ed Sheeran appeared woodenly in Game of Thrones. Wintour, lacking acting experience, risked the same fate. Her decades-long spell would have been instantly broken had she been wooden onscreen. Yet the funniest cameo in cinema history, according to some, is also unnecessary and disruptive: Marshall McLuhan’s appearance in Annie Hall, where he tells a pretentious filmgoer, 'You know nothing of my work.' The withering put-down feels distinctly Wintour-ish. But that moment belongs to Woody Allen’s film, not to the sequel of The Devil Wears Prada.

What Comes Next

The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens next week, with advance screenings held under strict no-spoiler policies. The film’s cameo-heavy approach aims to recreate the easy glamour of the original, but the absence of its real-life muse leaves a hole that no amount of celebrity appearances can fill. For Wintour, the cut scene may be a blessing. She remains an enigma, untouchable, swanning through fashion’s highest circles. To have appeared onscreen would have demystified her. Instead, she hovers over the film as she always has—an invisible presence that everyone talks about but no one can pin down.

The bottom line

• Anna Wintour filmed a cameo for The Devil Wears Prada 2 but it was cut after she flubbed her lines; director David Frankel did not ask for a retake.
• The sequel features a star-studded cameo list including Lady Gaga, Donatella Versace, and Naomi Campbell, but Wintour’s absence is the most notable.
• Wintour had recently softened her stance on the film, praising it on a podcast and appearing on a Vogue cover with Meryl Streep.
• More than twenty of Wintour’s former assistants attended a screening, underscoring the film’s deep ties to real Vogue culture.
• Former assistant Kate Young offered a candid critique of the film’s protagonist, calling her a terrible assistant, while also defending the job’s allure.
• Billy Norwich’s 100-question culture test for Vogue assistants has resurfaced and gone viral, highlighting the rigorous standards of the magazine.