'Devil Wears Prada' Director Speaks To Upper School

Marti Lotman
Film director David Frankel says he always knew he wanted to be a storyteller. Born to father Max Frankel, former executive editor of The New York Times, you could say storytelling was in his blood.

Frankel, best known for his work on "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Marley and Me" spoke with Benjamin upper school students the afternoon of December 13 as part of Dr. John Peruggia’s film class.

Frankel, a Harvard graduate and former journalist for Esquire magazine, detailed his foray into film. Frankel began by writing on nights and weekends and eventually sold a screenplay to Warner Brothers that was set in Havana during the Cuban Revolution. Frankel went on to direct “Miami Rhapsody” and “Band Of Brothers” early in his career. He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for his 1996 short film Dear Diary and an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for the pilot episode of Entourage.

“I keep them both in the closet,” he says of the awards. “Every once in awhile I take the Oscar out and pass it around on Passover.”

Frankel, clad in light denim jeans, sneakers, and a Nike sweatshirt, is unassuming as he talks about A-list celebrities and major lifetime achievements. He tries recounting to the class a conversation he had with Owen Wilson at Art Basel, but they start laughing as soon as he casually mentions the star’s name as if it’s all in a day’s work.

And for Frankel, it is. He’s worked with everyone from Meryl Streep, to Owen Wilson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Anne Hathaway and Tom Hanks. The list of celebrities he considers colleagues is long and astonishingly impressive, but he assumes no airs when talking about his career. Rather, the focus for Frankel, he says, is something about the world that really excites him.

In the case of The Devil Wears Prada, it was the cutthroat fashion world. Frankel says he’s fascinated by people who aren’t known to be nice, yet are excellent at their job.

“We like to think of ourselves as civil people, but often times enormous talent doesn’t come with the traditional elements of a well rounded person. Should that be encouraged or discouraged? I think society is worse off if we don’t encourage these people,” he tells the class.

Frankel says he wanted to celebrate working women and the tremendous burdens they face through his work on the film.

Frankel, who says he learned filmmaking through trial by fire, believes the first step is being exposed to films. His recommendations? "City Of God," "Manhattan," "Hoop Dreams," "The English Patient" and "Tootsie" - not necessarily in that order.

Frankel went on to field questions about film budgets and the economics of filmmaking. He estimates that it costs roughly $225,000 a day to make a film and another $30 million to market it effectively.

Frankel, whose favorite city to shoot in is New York, says it’s natural to get frustrated when what’s in your imagination doesn’t translate to the audience.

“All of us get frustrated not being able to realize what’s in our imaginations whether it’s writing or producing or filmmaking. The thing to remember is the audience only sees what they see - they never saw the thing that was in your head,” he says.

Frankel wraps up the two hour conversation by responding to how he defines success.

“Success for me is if someone is moved in the theatre. I hear them laugh, hear them cry . . . they have to fix their makeup or are retelling a joke . . . you fall in love with something about the characters and you’re genuinely physically affected. To me, the endings of movies are the reason you make them.”
 
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A premier PK3 - Grade 12 independent, coeducational day school with campuses in North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. Since 1960, The Benjamin School has provided a challenging college preparatory education to a diverse student body in a structured, nurturing community environment.
 
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