Meryl Streep<\/a>\u2019s Academy Award-nominated, thinly-veiled portrayal of her in The Devil Wears Prada.<\/p>\nCutler sat down to discuss the film with MovieFanFare during a recent stop in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Q: What made you decide to do this movie?<\/p>\n
A: I felt that Anna Wintour has to speak for herself. She has said she was an admirer of my work, but she\u2019ll have to speak on her own behalf. Anna Wintour is someone whose name everybody knows but about whom nobody knows. How she works, what she does, who she does it with\u2026As much as we are familiar with caricatures of her which pervade the culture, there\u2019s very little real knowledge of her. That sparked my curiosity.<\/p>\n
Q: How familiar were you with Anna and Vogue Magazine?<\/p>\n
A: Not at all. I maintain that the less you know going in, the clearer you see it. If you\u2019re a blank slate and you can have curiosity, it opens things up for curiosity. The more you can discover, the more you can see.<\/p>\n
Q: Can you tell us how long the film took to make?<\/p>\n
A: I met with her in the fall of 2006. We agreed right away to make the film. I had financing the early part of 2006. We shot for 7 \u00bd months, from January 2007 to August 2007, began editing in October 2007 and I finished the mix hours before I flew to Sundance in the morning on a Thursday at 2 AM. I flew to Sundance on Friday and had the premiere Friday night in January 2009.<\/p>\n
Q: How much footage did you shoot?<\/p>\n
A: We shot 320 hours and the film runs 88 minutes. There will be a helluva DVD, but this is the final cut. I would not add another half-hour even if I could. You could give me a million dollars to work on editing some more, but I wouldn\u2019t change a frame.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0\u00a0 What do you think The September Issue will do for her image as a cold, controlling woman who is difficult to deal with?<\/p>\n
A: There\u2019s a presumption that her image is a given, but with all respect I think what people see is a complex human being, a powerful woman who has dominated this industry for two decades\u2026who has her supporters and detractors\u2026who is demanding and exacting and decisive and economical in her communication but very clear in her communication\u2026who is surrounded by other mighty personalities but is still clearly the leader\u2026 who works in a really high stakes job in a really high stakes industry who is also a mother and a daughter and a sister. And so, they will see a rich, complex human being with a mischievous sense of humor. Some will say, \u201cOh, my God, I could never work for her.\u201d And others will say, like my sister did the other day after seeing her on David Letterman, \u201cYou know, I\u2019m like that at work. I don\u2019t know what the problem is.\u201d Some will react to her that way and see a role model, diminutive\u20145\u20193\u201d, 5\u20194\u201d, but really a tiny physical presence with all this power that works like a dog and has all this power. Some will see those qualities. Or see she is not warm or cuddly. People project things on to her.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the film shows you the rich complexity. I see a balance of all of these things in the movie.<\/p>\n
Q: You said you didn\u2019t know much going in regarding Grace Coddington, sort of the yin to Anna Wintour\u2019s yang in the film.<\/p>\n
A: You can\u2019t miss it (the contrast). Grace\u2019s office is three doors down from Anna\u2019s office. Anna\u2019s office is a freezer of efficiency. Meets are minutes long. They get more done in seven minutes in Vogue than meetings I\u2019ve been to in Hollywood that go on for 90 minutes. They get it done, everyone comes prepared, they come early, they get it done and move on. They do not waste time. Anna is very decisive.<\/p>\n
There is a great scene where Virginia (Smith, Vogue\u2019s fashion editor) shows us her work. Anna goes, \u201cYes, no, yes, no.\u201d That\u2019s Anna Wintour. Grace Coddington has an office where everybody should be sitting around with a bong. It\u2019s like, \u201cLet\u2019s be creative, sharing ideas, lounging about.\u201d It\u2019s an incubator of creativity you can\u2019t miss. And then when they get together, the sparks fly and you can see the work Grace has done. You can\u2019t miss the import of this relationship and how it defines what Vogue is. And that\u2019s what I was looking for. Another filmmaker in that environment may have responded to something else and made a different film. Part of the great fun of this is that my 320 hours are going to be completely different from your 320 hours. Truth is the standard.<\/p>\n
Q: How do people respond to the real Anna Wintour, as opposed to Meryl Streep\u2019s portrayal of her in The Devil Wears Prada?<\/p>\n
A: There\u2019s been such a wide range of things written about that subject, I can\u2019t help but conclude if it\u2019s the other side of the image to some, and to others, it\u2019s an enhancement of the image. Some British critic said this movie makes The Devil Wears Prada look like an episode of The Care Bears.<\/p>\n
Q: It seems like there\u2019s a blurring of the line here between journalism and marketing in regard to the fashion industry. Department stores and designers seek Wintour\u2019s input into issues while she\u2019s editing the most powerful magazine covering their products.<\/p>\n
A: They draw the line at quid pro quo. It\u2019s not really a subject of the film, but there\u2019s no question that her role extends beyond the objective observer. She\u2019s an activist editor-in-chief. I believe her dad was too, and that was a quality she was aware of in her father, that you could have an influence in your community and you can use the bully pulpit of your publication to impact the community.<\/p>\n
And she does. Look at what she does with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is solely responsible for raising the $6-$7 million that the costume institute at the Met has in their budget. If Anna doesn\u2019t throw that party, the budget is zero. She takes an interest in some designers, (and) other designers cry foul. That\u2019s just the way it is with Anna.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
R.J. Cutler has based his career on observing the real and turning it into the reel. The Yale-educated former theater director has made a name for himself in the worlds of both non-fictional film and television. He was the producer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-staff-notes"],"yoast_head":"\n
The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MovieFanFare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"443\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irv Slifkin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irv Slifkin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irv Slifkin\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8\"},\"headline\":\"R.J. Cutler & The September Issue\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793\"},\"wordCount\":1305,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/september-ish.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Staff Notes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793\",\"name\":\"The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/september-ish.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8\"},\"description\":\"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/september-ish.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/09\\\/september-ish.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":443},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=3793#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"R.J. Cutler & The September Issue\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"MovieFanFare\",\"description\":\"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8\",\"name\":\"Irv Slifkin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g40116b2e304ffc08ecbc56cb6b8f6dad\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Irv Slifkin\"},\"description\":\"Irv Slifkin has been with Movies Unlimited for 20-plus years in different capacities with their annual catalog and website. He has also found time to write two books (Filmadelphia and Groovy Movies), review films on radio (he's currently on The Frankie Boyer show on the Lifestyles Radio Network) and recently made his debut on stage in Disney's Beauty and the Beast for the Moorestown Theater Company.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviesunlimited.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler","description":"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler","og_description":"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:","og_url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793","og_site_name":"MovieFanFare","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377","article_published_time":"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":443,"url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Irv Slifkin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irv Slifkin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793"},"author":{"name":"Irv Slifkin","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8"},"headline":"R.J. Cutler & The September Issue","datePublished":"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793"},"wordCount":1305,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg","articleSection":["Staff Notes"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793","name":"The September Issue \u2013 An Interview with Director R.J. Cutler","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg","datePublished":"2009-09-11T11:30:39+00:00","dateModified":"2009-10-05T16:42:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8"},"description":"The September Issue \u2013 Director R.J. Cutler discusses his new documentary and working with Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg","width":300,"height":443},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=3793#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"R.J. Cutler & The September Issue"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/","name":"MovieFanFare","description":"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2f03bad0fe2ee2edffe7a94b415614e8","name":"Irv Slifkin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g40116b2e304ffc08ecbc56cb6b8f6dad","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f745a0dd82a0246fbc68540a8e3931c45edccce8f714225e66314a1908851698?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Irv Slifkin"},"description":"Irv Slifkin has been with Movies Unlimited for 20-plus years in different capacities with their annual catalog and website. He has also found time to write two books (Filmadelphia and Groovy Movies), review films on radio (he's currently on The Frankie Boyer show on the Lifestyles Radio Network) and recently made his debut on stage in Disney's Beauty and the Beast for the Moorestown Theater Company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com"],"url":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3793"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=3793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"september-ish\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/september-ish.jpg\" "\\"september-ish\\"")
<\/p>\n