'Couldn't Get A Job': Stanley Tucci Shares Effect 'Devil Wears Prada' Had On His Career

The beloved actor starred opposite thespian titan Meryl Streep and then-up-and-comer Anne Hathaway in the 2006 film. While it went on to gross more than $326 million at the worldwide box office, Tucci recalls his acting offers dwindling shortly after.

“After ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ I couldn’t get a job, and I didn’t quite understand that, but that’s just the way it was,” he told Vanity Fair in an interview published Tuesday. “So I went and did stuff that I didn’t necessarily want to do, but I did it.”

The David Frankel-directed film was a genuine hit and made Hathaway a star, while Tucci — who played the art director of its fictional Runway fashion magazine — went on to supporting roles in critically panned projects like “Four Last Songs” and “What Just Happened.”

The actor ultimately established himself as one of the most talented actors of his generation, earning an Oscar nod for his performance as a serial-killing child rapist in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones” (2009) — a role he admittedly would never agree to again.

Tucci said Tuesday that his career has “always gone through these fluctuations” and that, while “sometimes it’s just the business,” more “personal reasons” often affected his opportunities. His first wife, Kate Tucci, battled cancer during “Prada’s” production, and died in 2009.

Streep, Tucci and Hathaway at the Deauville American Film Festival for "Prada" in 2006.

FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images

“Having been sick six years ago, that threw a wrench into the works for a while, and then you slowly get back,” he told Vanity Fair. “But I had to start doing things. I needed to work because I needed money. I probably started working too soon.”

“I didn’t really have the energy to do it after the treatments, but you had to do it,” Tucci continued, “and eventually you climb back up again.”

When asked about his potential return as “Runway’s” most acerbic art director in a recently-confirmed “Prada” sequel, meanwhile, Tucci remained mum — and sheepishly replied: “I can’t answer that. No one will let me answer that.”