The Devil Wears Prada 2 | 2006
There's a return to familiar locations in Manhattan seen in the first film, plus some new spots, and the obligatory trip to Europe this time takes the Runway magazine folk to Milan. Find out exactly where.
With the main characters going their own separate ways at the end of the last film, there's a lot of exposition at the beginning to get all their paths to cross again.
Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), now an award-winning serious journalist, finds herself suddenly laid off when the magazine she works for is closed down.
There's bad news too over at Runway magazine, which Nigel (Stanley Tucci) receives at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue between East 49th and East 50th Streets, Midtown, and has to pass on to editor Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).
A scandal concerning the magazine's links to a sweatshop has just broke online just as Miranda is about attend a glitzy Runway show being held – as it was in the previous film – at the American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West at 79th Street on the West Side.
And just like that, as they say, Irv, the wealthy owner of Runway's parent company, in a bid to regain some semblance of credibility, puts in a call offering a job to now-unemployed journalist Andy.
Despite being out of work, Andy has serious reservations about returning to the cutthroat world of high-fashion. She talks the dilemma through with her chums in Bubby's, 120 Hudson Street, which you might remember as the Greenwich Village bar where her boyfriend, Nate, worked in the first film.
There wouldn't be much of a film if she turned the job down so she's soon back in the hi-rise McGraw-Hill Building, 1221 Avenue of the Americas at West 49th Street, now as Features Editor.
A large room within the building was briefly kitted out with counters and cash registers to become the Runway cafeteria which Miranda is astonished to discover exists.
An urgent exercise in damage limitation calls for a meeting with representatives of fashion house Dior to try and hold onto their lucrative advertising.
When it turns out that Miranda's former assistant, Emily (Emily Blunt), is now working for Dior, the three major players are neatly accounted for.
The meeting is held in 50 Hudson Yards, a 58-story building at West 34th Street and 10th Avenue, developed as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, north of Chelsea near the Lincoln Tunnel entrance.
Miranda makes no secret of the fact that she's unhappy with having Andy foisted on her by Irv and after the meeting, as she slips into her car, Miranda pointedly tells Andy to take the subway from the 34 Street-Hudson Yards Station opposite.
The flagship Dior store which Andy needs to write a puff-piece about is indeed the company's new flagship Manhattan outlet, 23 East 57th Street at Madison Avenue in Midtown.
Befitting her new position – and salary – Andy moves into a smart new apartment. Actually across the East River in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, it was once the old Polhemus Memorial Clinic, built in 1897 as an extension of a hospital for the poor, 100 Amity Street at Henry Street.
Claimed to be the first skyscraper hospital ever built, the eight story tower stood vacant until being repurposed and restored as condominiums in 2020.
This story is mirrored in the film as Andy gets off on the wrong foot with Aussie Peter (Patrick Brammall) who turns out to be the building's (fictitious) developer.
Since he's good-looking and single, they soon patch things up and are enjoying a date at the retro Long Island Bar, 110 Atlantic Avenue, which really is just a couple of blocks from the condo in Cobble Hill.
If Andy could get proofs of the latest JK Rowling book before publication, she is clearly capable of getting a coveted exclusive interview with the reclusive billionaire philanthropist Sasha Barnes (Lucy Liu) at her luxurious estate.
This estate is MiddleSea, 502 Centre Island Road, Oyster Bay, a 14-acre beachfront property on Long Island which was once home to Billy Joel.
This coup raises Andy's status enough to get an invitation to a party at Miranda's 'Hamptons' home, where she gets wind of good news soon for both Miranda and her. Her estate isn't far from the Sasha Barnes property also on Centre Island Road.
An unexpected setback changes everything, not only scuppering the rosy futures of Andy and Miranda but threatening Runway magazine itself.
Wanting to help, Andy pays a visit to Miranda at her home, which is still, as it was in the first film, the elegant townhouse at 129 East 73rd Street, at Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side.
Nevertheless, a planned trip to Milan goes ahead although swingeing budget-cuts mean that Miranda is obliged to suffer the indignity of (horrors!) flying economy class.
The film, though, still demands high-end glamour so the Runway team still get to stay at Milan's luxurious Palazzo Parigi Hotel, Corso di Porta Nuova, 1, 20121 Milano.
A bit of cheating here takes us back to Long Island. The hotel's bedrooms and stairways were filmed in Winfield Hall, the Woolworth Estate, 77 Crescent Beach Road in Glen Cove. It's a private home and not open to visitors.
There's more genuine Italian ostentation on display as they visit Villa Arconati, Via Fametta, 1, 20021 Castellazzo, in the heart of the Groane Park a few miles northwest of Milan.
In a desperate bid to save the magazine, Andy furtively teams up with Emily – who's now dating Sasha Barnes' ex-husband Benji (Justin Theroux) – another billionaire, natch – at his villa on Lake Como.
They're hoping to set up a deal to buy the magazine from Irv's son, Jay Ravitz (BJ Novak) which will secure everyone's futures.
This is the 16th-century Villa Balbiano, Piazza Cardinale Durini, 22010 Ossuccio. If you fancy the look of it, the villa is available for holiday rentals and weddings, offering up to 30 guests a luxurious stay in one of six sprawling suites – and several outhouses, of course.
Balbiano also appears in another high-fashion drama, Ridley Scott's 2021 House of Gucci, but be careful not to confuse it with the similarly named Villa Balbianello, also on Lake Como, which features in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and 2006 Bond movie Casino Royale.
Andy finds Emily having lunch with Donatella Versace at Il Salumaio di Montenapoleone, Via Santo Spirito, 10, 20121 Milano. A long-standing family-run favourite since 1957, although it's close to tourist sites, the restaurant is quietly tucked away in a Renaissance courtyard, between Via Montenapoleone and Via della Spiga.
The gala dinner is held in the 15th century Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Via Giuseppe Antonio Sassi, 3, in the centre of the city and famous for Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper mural, painted directly onto the wall of its refectory.
Considering the fragility of the mural and the need for preservation, the dinner scene itself, unsurprisingly, was filmed in the studio with a recreation of the painting.
The church is open to visitors but if you want to see the mural, you'll need to pay and to book ahead probably several months for a 15-minute viewing.
Miranda slips out and wanders disconsolately through the strangely deserted Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, one of Milan's most famous landmarks, dating from 1877, and the oldest active shopping arcade in Italy, with the Versace and Prada stores prominently featured.
When Andy's machinations turn out to be a terrible mistake, Miranda comes up with yet another scheme and, yes, it involves a billionaire (they're so convenient to have about, aren't they?).
Behind the lights and the razzmatazz of the big Runway show climax, featuring a grudging performance by Lady Gaga who owes Miranda a favour, is the Brera Academy – the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Via Brera, 28 – a state-run public academy of fine arts, the main courtyard seen in the film is open to visitors.
When all is eventually sorted out (hardly a spoiler, is it?) Andy and Emily meet up for lunch to bury the hatchet at Marlow East American restaurant and cocktail lounge, 1022 Lexington Avenue at East 73rd Street, on the Upper East Side. But watch out, the boss may be keeping an eye on you. The restaurant is just across from Miranda Priestly's home..
