The Devil Wears Prada Sequel Takes Andy Sachs to Italy—Here’s Where They Filmed

It’s been nearly two decades since Andy Sachs first stumbled into the glossy halls of Runway magazine, and now she’s back. The sequel to the 2006 hit finds Anne Hathaway’s character returning to the fashion bible, this time as a seasoned features editor rather than a bumbling assistant. Meryl Streep reprises her role as the formidable Miranda Priestly, joined by Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt, while Justin Theroux joins the cast as a billionaire. Donatella Versace and Lady Gaga also make cameos.

But the story doesn’t stay put in New York. The climax unfolds in Milan, not Paris, giving production designer Jess Gonchor a chance to showcase Italy in fresh ways. “We wanted to crank it up a little more with the locations,” he says. That meant filming at a private villa on Lake Como, where characters arrive by boat, and at the Palazzo Parigi Hotel & Grand Spa Milano, which doubled as the hotel where the cast actually stayed. “The cast could run up and down from their rooms during filming, or just hang out in the lobby,” Gonchor recalls. “It really was a very cool way to make a movie, especially in Italy.”

Back in New York, the production secured access to the newly reopened Waldorf Astoria and the Dior flagship on 57th Street before it opened to the public. “Saying the words ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ opened a lot of doors for us,” Gonchor says. The crew also built a custom cafeteria inside the McGraw Hill building to mimic Condé Nast’s iconic lunch spot. And for a key scene set in Milan, they recreated Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” by hand. “We hired painters who came in from Rome and painted the whole thing, just like Da Vinci did,” he adds.

With crowds gathering at every New York shoot—thanks to social media—Gonchor says the reception felt Beatle-esque. “It never disrupted filming, but it made everyone feel like The Beatles.”