She doesn’t know her.
Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 roman à clef about her experiences working for Vogue didn’t ring any bells for Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
A new biography about the 72-year-old editrix claims that she divulged to then-managing editor Laurie Jones that she didn’t know which of her previous assistants wrote the novel “The Devil Wears Prada.”
It was only when Weisberger’s book received the film-adaptation treatment in 2006 that Wintour started to finally pay attention.
Amy Odell, writer of the new book “Anna: The Biography,” described what went down when the fashion editor tried to remember who worked for her.
“On May 21, 2002, Women’s Wear Daily reported that ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ had sold to Doubleday for a reported $250,000. When Anna learned about the book, she said to [managing editor Laurie] Jones, ‘I cannot remember who that girl is,’ ” Odell penned, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The biography noted that Wintour went to a private screening of “The Devil Wears Prada” at the Paris Theater in New York City in 2006 before the flick premiered on June 30.
Wintour reportedly attended the showing, decked out in Prada. Director David Frankel allegedly overheard Wintour’s daughter, Bee Shaffer, telling her mom that the movie “really got” her character correct.
Vogue contributing editor William Norwich also contributed to Odell’s book and was quoted saying that the Condé Nast director “really didn’t care about the book even after it spent six months on the New York Times’ best-seller list.”
According to Odell, Norwich added, ” ‘I don’t think Anna is as interested in the cultural phenomenon that she is as the rest of us are,’ he said. Anna has said to friends, ‘I’m so bored by me.’ This is one reason she doesn’t plan to ever write a memoir. Norwich explained, ‘She doesn’t want to stop working to reflect.’ “
A Vogue rep revealed to Entertainment Weekly in a statement that the biography was “written without Anna’s participation and, regrettably, she was not given the opportunity to fact check anything in it.”
The chick-lit dramedy film starred Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a ruthless fashion magazine editor, and Anne Hathaway as Andy Sachs, a wide-eyed eager college graduate who lands a job as Priestly’s co-assistant, along with newcomer Emily Blunt.
Hathaway, 39, wasn’t the original choice to play Andy, according to Frankel. The cast gathered virtually for a 15-year reunion with Entertainment Weekly last year, where it was revealed that Rachel McAdams was the first choice for the role. But the “Mean Girls” star turned it down three times.
“The studio was very determined to have Rachel star in that movie,” Frankel said during the reunion. “And she was very determined not to do it.”
Streep, 72, noted at the time that she based her portrayal of Priestly on Clint Eastwood. “I saw Clint Eastwood run a set,” the Oscar winner said. “He’s someone that guys really respect, and he never raises his voice, ever; the one time that he did, it so terrified people for two weeks, they were traumatized . . . It was all up to them to have this reaction. I could just speak and be slightly nastier than I normally am.”
