This week, while shooting a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, Anne Hathaway took a tumble down the stairs when one of her high heels broke, potentially as part of a staged scene.

In the original film, Meryl Streep played the role of the intimidating fashion editor Miranda Priestly, a character inspired by the soon-to-depart Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

The first movie was based on a roman à clef written by Lauren Weisberger, a former assistant to the real Anna, and it featured Anne, who is now 42, playing Andrea ‘Andy’ Sachs, Lauren’s fictional counterpart.

News broke last July that a big-screen sequel was in the works, and it was confirmed shortly thereafter that Anne and Meryl were both reprising their old roles.

Last week, Anne and Stanley Tucci – another returning cast member from the first film – sent fans into a frenzy when they were seen filming a funeral scene.

This Wednesday, Anne was seen tumbling over the steps of a New York City stoop during a shoot day, and it was unclear if she was acting or suffering a real mishap.

Anne Hathaway fell down the stairs when one of her high heels broke while filming the Devil Wears Prada sequel this week – possibly a staged moment for the scene

Luckily her fall was shallow enough that she appeared to be unhurt, keeping a smile on her face and quickly gathering herself back up.

Once she was on her feet, she grinned broadly and struck a playful pose with her arms in the air, reassuring anyone in the vicinity that she was not seriously injured.

At another point during the shoot, Anne could be seen munching on a bagel with cream cheese as she made her way across the street.

The original film sees Andy plunge into the fashion industry and get swiftly made-over from a mousy bookworm into a high-octane glamour-puss. 

Her transformation in The Devil Wears Prada seems to have lasted into the sequel, as Anne was spotted in character this week in a fashion-forward outfit.

She showed off her lithe physique in a see-through checked blouse that also offered a glimpse of the black bra she was wearing underneath.

Her lingerie matched her pleated skirt, which fell past the knee and was cinched in at the waist, emphasising her enviably slender frame.

Anne’s latest costume also featured orange-tinted shades, a string of pearls a black purse, plus the heels at the centre of her – or Andy’s – wardrobe malfunction.  

This Wednesday, Anne was seen tumbling over the steps of a New York City stoop during a shoot day, and it was unclear if she was acting or suffering a real mishap

Luckily her fall was shallow enough that she appeared to be unhurt, keeping a smile on her face and quickly gathering herself back up

Once she was on her feet, she grinned broadly and struck a playful pose with her arms in the air, reassuring anyone in the vicinity that she was not seriously injured

At another point during the shoot, Anne could be seen munching on a bagel with cream cheese as she made her way across the street

Her transformation in The Devil Wears Prada seems to have lasted into the sequel, as Anne was spotted in character this week in a fashion-forward outfit

Other members of the original cast have also been spotted in recent weeks filming the sequel, including Meryl, Stanley and Emily Blunt. 

Emily played Miranda’s chic, perpetually harried senior assistant Emily Charlton, who hisses that she is ‘one stomach flu away from my goal weight’.  

The character was rumoured to be inspired by former Vogue writer Victoria ‘Plum’ Sykes, though Plum herself has strenuously denied as much.

Meanwhile Stanley was a scene-stealing presence in the first film as Runway magazine’s waspish art director Nigel Kipling, who announces Miranda’s arrival at the office by warning his colleagues: ‘All right, everyone, gird your loins!’   

David Frankel and Aline Brosh McKenna, the director and writer respectively of the original movie, have been enlisted for the same jobs on the sequel.

New faces have also joined the team, from Kenneth Branagh as Miranda’s new husband to Australian heartthrob Patrick Brammall as Andy’s latest love interest.

Timothée Chalamet’s sister Pauline and The Office actor BJ Novak have also been spotted working on the movie in New York, along with YouTube star Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date fame.

Although Lauren Weisberger wrote a sequel to her novel called Revenge Wears Prada, the reported plot of the second film is different from that of the second book. 

She showed off her lithe physique in a see-through checked blouse that also offered a glimpse of the black bra she was wearing underneath

Anne’s latest costume also featured orange-tinted shades, a string of pearls a black purse, plus the heels at the centre of her – or Andy’s – wardrobe malfunction

In the upcoming movie, Miranda is said to be attempting to steer Runway through a new media landscape as her old world of print magazines slides into increasing irrelevance in the digital age, according to Variety.

She is bent on making a deal with a luxury ad firm, only to hit a snag in the shape of Emily, who is now an executive at the company. 

When the book The Devil Wears Prada was published in 2003, it spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list and set off a blizzard of gossip that Lauren was writing about her former boss, who had employed her for less than a year.

In public, the real Anna Wintour kept her cool, breezily remarking that she was ‘looking forward to reading the book’ to the New York Times.

However one of Anna’s subordinates claimed to her unauthorised biographer Jerry Oppenheimer that the Vogue capo was ‘spitting fire’ behind the scenes and ‘felt she had been used and abused by Weisberger.’

When the movie came out three years later, Anna leaned into the publicity and attended the New York City premiere wearing Prada.

Several years after the film’s release, Anna was asked in a CNN interview whether she regarded her ex-assistant’s novel as a ‘breach of trust’.

‘Well…,’ Anna replied with a weak laugh. ‘I think that she brought attention to fashion in a way that, you know, you can look at it in a negative way or a positive way. I choose to look at it in a positive way. In some ways, I think I should be grateful to her.’