How did Alexis Franklin bring Miranda Priestly to life without AI? Artist shares process behind The Devil Wears Prada 2 artwork

Meryl Streep stars as Miranda Priestly in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ – Source: Getty

There was an AI-generated meme in The Devil Wears Prada 2 that viewers have been talking about. It features RUNWAY editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) at the front and center, depicted as a fast-woof worker, with the text that reads: “Would you like some lies with that?”

The meme only appeared on the screen for a brief moment in the film, but it has been circulating on social media. And many audience members thought that the artwork was an intentional depiction of an AI slop. What they didn’t know was that a real artist made the artwork until Alexis Franklin shared that she was the one who made it, and without the use of AI.

Alexis Franklin digitally handpainted the artwork, as seen in the time-lapse video of her artistic process that she shared on Instagram on May 1. She also told NBC News in an email, published on May 4, that completing the artwork took a few days of on-and-off work. Franklin added that her process included going for a “cheap plastic look that reminded me of the photoshopped 2010’s meme aesthetic.”

Franklin also mentioned in her initial Instagram post that The Devil Wears Prada 2 director, David Frankel, requested her to paint the artwork. She added how “fun” the process was:

“Absolutely no disrespect to Queen Meryl, but this is something I would’ve painted in my free time, so when they asked me to do this it was nothing but fun.”

“I was trying to make it look artificial” – The Devil Wears Prada 2 meme artist said about making the now-viral artwork

One of the notable features of the now-viral Miranda Priestly meme from The Devil Wears Prada 2 is its noticeably plastic look. It’s no wonder that it was widely thought to be AI-generated and is now a creation of a real artist. But artist Alexis Franklin said in her email to NBC News that the artificial and plastic aesthetic of the artwork was intentional. But she added that she didn’t try to emulate AI.

“Technically I was trying to make it look artificial, but emulating AI was not on my mind when I painted it… It feels like the power of suggestion has taken hold in that regard.”

It appears that she has read comments from people online, and she found some of those comments “amusing.” Franklin said that she had people point out “regular human micro-errors” in the artwork and claim that she intentionally made those to nail the ‘AI slop.’ But she also has people accusing her that the now-viral meme artwork wasn’t hers despite posting the time-lapse video of her artistic process.

She did say that she understood some people’s criticisms. But she added that such criticism, despite its coming from a place of wanting to support human artists, can potentially hurt those artists. Alexis Franklin also took to X to spread the news that she’s behind the artwork and said that she thought “companies should get their flowers when they hire an artist.”

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