Hollywood Keeps Wasting Simone Ashley

“Who gives away Chanel?” Simone Ashley delivers in almost a purr as Amari, Miranda Priestly’s new first assistant in The Devil Wears Prada 2. Anne Hathaway’s Andy, now older but perhaps not wiser, has just revealed to Amari that she gave away the designer wardrobe she acquired while at Runway magazine 20 years ago. Needless to say, Amari is not impressed. Just two weekends in, The Devil Wears Prada 2 has set eye-watering records, hauling in $433 million at the box office — nearly matching its lifetime haul of the 2006 original’s $534 million (already adjusted for inflation). The franchise is all over our feeds. As is Simone Ashley, the British Tamil star whose wardrobe in the film has a fanbase of its own. 

Ashley actually wrote the memorable Chanel line herself. But it’s also one of the few complete sentences she gets to utter. She spends the majority of her silent screentime by Streep’s side as the Gen Z voice policing Miranda’s choice of words. Even Charlie (Caleb Hearon), the second assistant, gets more to say, as does Helen J. Shen as Jin, Andy’s assistant.

In giving the biggest name of the new cast the least to do, it felt like a huge disservice to an increasingly popular actor. So why does Hollywood keep giving Simone Ashley the short end of the stick, from F1 to Bridgerton? We spoke to experts and superfans to find out.