The Devil Wears Prada 2 doesn’t arrive in theaters until May 1, 2026, but plenty of moments between stars Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep are already online, thanks to paparazzi and fan videos shot on the streets of New York.
Onlookers have captured scenes of Hathaway’s Andy Sachs running down New York sidewalks and Streep’s Miranda Priestly ascending the Met steps from a distance. Others have gotten so close that actual dialogue from the movie can be heard.
No, it’s not a Marvel or Star Wars movie where spoilers really matter. But for the filmmakers behind Prada, dealing with paparazzi and fans can clearly be an unwelcome distraction. (In videos posted to social media on Aug. 20, Hathaway and star Stanley Tucci can be seen asking paparazzi to “relax” and step back while filming a scene in Central Park.)
“It can be costly to the production in some circumstances, because you have to beef up security, especially when you have huge talent,” says Oscar-nominated producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff, a veteran of New York shoots such as Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019), Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and The Irishman (2019), and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s upcoming The Bride. The sequel Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) was a particular challenge for Koskoff, who recalls a “frenzy” after adding paparazzi magnet Lady Gaga to the cast.
Prada is the latest in a string of films and TV shows where crowds have gathered to capture filming as it happens. Two years ago, there was Blake Lively’s It Ends With Us in New Jersey, then there was the latest season of …And Just Like That in New York, and currently, there’s Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day in the U.K. (though in a savvy move, the latter invited fans to the first day of filming, and then made a marketing video around it).
Despite complaints from productions, some paparazzi see their work as being additive to the marketing of a film.
“Many filmmakers welcome me, because they realize good publicity early in is helpful,” says Steve Sands, one of New York’s more well-known paparazzo.
Even if that’s the case some of the time, savvy filmmakers choose to get ahead of leaked photos, sharing their own, high-quality images from set so that they can control the first look of their film. Joker filmmaker Phillips did that in 2018 and 2022, posting photos of his lead stars in costume on his Instagram account.
According to sources THR spoke with, Manhattan is among the hardest places in the world to shoot, at least in terms of avoiding unwanted attention. The recent Denzel Washington-Spike Lee movie Highest 2 Lowest, for instance, didn’t have much trouble when it filmed in Brooklyn, while even in the heyday of filming in Los Angeles, you didn’t see extensive paparazzi shots from set.
This could partly be due to New York being a walkable city while L.A. is car-centric, or because much filming in L.A. was done on studio lots. But it could also be due to New York’s lack of anti-paparazzi laws. (California has enacted legislation targeting unwanted intrusion, harassment and trespassing by paparazzi, though the First Amendment clearly protects filming on public streets.)
Koskoff wants New York to pass similar legislation to help guard against aggressive tactics.
“They need to put something into place that protects the filmmakers and the hundreds of millions of dollars that we bring into that city to shoot,” she says. “They should be helping us protect the product that we’re spending a fortune in that city to produce and create.”
But anti-paparazzi legislation in New York isn’t in the works at this moment. The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment shares in a statement with THR that it’s “committed to balancing the needs of the creative professionals who film in our city with the rights of the press as protected by the First Amendment. From when our office first receives a request to film, until the crew has moved on to their next location, our office continuously monitors productions to ensure safety and efficiency, serving the best interest of all New Yorkers.”
As for all those leaked photos swirling around online before a film hits the big screen, Koskoff isn’t too worried about its impact on reception for the final cut.
Says the producer: “The finished film will always speak for itself.”