Even as fans are still buzzing about exciting Sydney Sweeney casting news, the pendulum swings.
But if you were looking forward to Sweeney’s cameo — playing herself — resign yourself to reality now.
After multiple controversies over the past year, she’s been cut from the final film. Why?
She would have portrayed herself for a three-minute scene
Originally, Sweeney would have portrayed herself in The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The scene would have lasted just a few minutes, featuring her being styled by Emily Blunt’s character, Emily Charlton.
Some celebrity cameos are tongue-in-cheek, sometimes involving a bit of humorous self-mockery.
Others are very straightforward — an actor or singer portraying themselves earnestly.
We may never get to know what Sweeney’s scene would have looked like. Because it’s gone.
Though Sweeney filmed the scene, Entertainment Weekly reports that its removal from the final cut was a “creative decision.”
Ultimately, the scene did not work structurally for the overall film.
Anyone who has worked in any creative storytelling field can attest that, sometimes, you have to exclude scenes, events, or even entire characters for the sake of the overall story.
In a film, time is extremely valuable, and any error can create painful pacing issues.
The team behind The Devil wears Prada 2 is reportedly grateful for Sweeney’s participation in the project, and were reluctant to cut the scene from the final product.
But what about the elephant (or eagle) in the room?
It’s probably not a sign of hard feelings or whatever that Sweeney didn’t attend the premiere on Monday, April 20.
Even if she’d still appeared in the final cut, she would have been a cameo, not a lead. And she didn’t even appear in that.
(Few films seek to draw attention to what-might-have-been alternate cuts unless there are serious creative differences, like between a director and a studio.)
But Sweeney filmed her scene last summer. She was, to be blunt, a much less polarizing figure at the time.
Following her not-actually-that-controversial American Eagle add, she’s avoided rejecting Donald Trump’s approval, she’s gone public with dating Scooter Braun, and unconfirmed Zendaya feud rumors have only mounted.
To be clear, Sweeney has not actually made public statements to cater to bad guys who seem to want to be her biggest fans.
But critics argue that her reluctance to distance herself from them by simply outright rejecting endorsements from the worst and weirdest people alive is damning in and of itself.
(Should she? Yes. But we can fully understand that she’s been put in a no-win scenario as people continue to make up their own stories about who she is and what her values are.)
For now, any time that she is cast in something or not cast in something, invited or disinvited, people are going to read more into it than is probably there.
People are unable to be normal about Sweeney. That’s fuel for her career, but it also feels like her own personal hell.