Original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star Carson Kressley has said he was up against Stanley Tucci for the role of caustic Nigel in 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada.
“Picture it: It was 2003, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was very, very hot and Devil Wears Prada was casting at that time,” Kressley, 56, said on Wednesday’s segment of Today with Jenna & Sheinelle.
“I went in. I must have read for it, and, allegedly, according to the casting people, I made it all the way up the totem pole and there were two people up for the role. It was me and that Stanley Tucci fellow!” he revealed.
Directed by David Frankel, the cult classic comedy drama followed Anne Hathaway’s recent college graduate, Andy Sachs, during her first post-grad job as the personal assistant to the diabolical editor-in-chief of Runway fashion magazine, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep). It also starred Emily Blunt as Andy’s rival predecessor, Emily Charlton.
While Kressley found the casting team “really, really nice,” he recalled that their hesitation ultimately came down to his lack of acting experience.
“[They] said, ‘Oh God, you’re great, we love you, but we can’t have somebody who’s never been in a movie in the scene with Meryl Streep. That might be too big of a gamble.’ So I didn’t get it,” Kressley recalled, quipping, “Damn you, Stanley Tucci!”
Co-host Jenna Bush Hager jumped in, noting that Tucci, 56, would coincidentally be on the show the next day. When asked if he had a message for The Hunger Games actor, Kressley joked: “Thanks for ruining my career!
“No, he is amazing, and he was so great in it,” the reality TV star clarified. “I love all his cooking shows, going to Italy. In my research about Stanley Tucci, which I was making my voodoo doll — I mean, when I was just researching — I found out we have the same birthday, we’re both November 11. So there will be a time when I do something with Stanley.”
This May, Tucci will reprise his role as Runway magazine’s art director Nigel in the highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2. He will reunite with Streep, Hathaway and Blunt, alongside new cast members Simone Ashley, Justin Theroux, B.J. Novak and Lucy Liu.
The belated sequel will see Miranda fight her former assistant-turned-rival executive, Emily, for advertising revenue amid the decline of print media.
Kressley, meanwhile, is best known as one of the original Fab Five on the Bravo series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which was later revived as Queer Eye. Following his five-season run on the reality fashion show, Kressley has continued his career as a TV personality and fashion expert, hosting How to Look Good Naked (2008) and serving as a regular judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race beginning in 2015.
