The Devil is in the details — of his paycheck.
An extra in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” went viral for revealing his salary for starring in three seconds of the movie, which he filmed for 15 hours last summer.
However, first-time actor Matthew Ables revealed to The Post what he really made after subtracting the cost of the suit he was required to purchase for the gig.
The content creator was issued a check for $238.50 for his work in two scenes, however, he actually took home a measly $28.50.
“The suit came out to about $210, so I didn’t lose money in the end,” Ables, whose video about his experience racked up 18 million combined views, said after the film’s May 1 premiere.
The Los Angeles native was walking through Midtown in July when he spotted Meryl Streep in character as Runway editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly, filming at 1221 Sixth Ave. — where the offices for the fictional magazine were located.
“There were people standing around like, ‘We think something’s gonna happen’ … and two minutes later, we see the wig. And then she turns around and starts waving to everyone,” he said.
Ables then spotted a posted piece of paper with the name of the movie’s production company, 20th Century Studios, and contacted its background casting department, which asked for his headshot and availability.
Two weeks later, he got an email asking him to report to the set at 12 p.m. the following day for two roles — a Met Gala paparazzo and an “Angry Upscale Central Park Pedestrian in a Rush.”
“They said you had to bring multiple wardrobe options for each role. For the gala, they said it needed to be a suit, but then the other one, they just wanted nicer street clothes,” said Ables.
He then went on a frenzied shopping spree to Macy’s, H&M and Urban Outfitters, and showed up to the set’s holding area for hair, makeup and wardrobe, which was Redeemer Presbyterian Church on West 83rd Street — alongside hundreds of other extras.
After he got into his new black Alfani suit, a woman from the wardrobe team asked, “Is anyone here wearing a designer suit?”
“I genuinely thought it was Armani, so I just said, ‘Yes,’” recalled Ables, who confessed he knows little about fashion.
“And the lady looks at me and goes, ‘Are you sure?’”
She then checked the label and uttered, “This is not Armani, this is Alfani.”
“She thought I was trying to lie to her and get better placement in the scene so she got angry and was like, ‘We don’t have time to mess around on this set,’” said Ables, who was told the suit would suffice for both scenes, so he was able to return the rest of the clothing he bought after filming.
He then walked 10 blocks to Central Park to film the pedestrian scene, which took an hour “because there were real pedestrians who were getting in the shot,” he said.
The Met Gala scene began shooting at 9 p.m. on the steps outside the American Museum of Natural History, with Streep and Stanley Tucci, who plays the glossy’s art director, present for most of it.
“Despite it being two minutes in the film, they filmed it probably 25 times until 3 in the morning,” he said.
The extras did break for lunch at 7:30 p.m. — inside the lobby of the museum.
“The food was good, they had spaghetti and butter chicken, but it was interesting because I was eating around these fossils of dinosaurs,” he said.
There was one crew member who hopefully got paid more than he did for her work during that meal.
“There was a poor girl there who had to get all the trash from all of the extras and sort whether it was going to be recycled, like every single piece,” he said.
“And I was like, ‘Wow, she’s going to be here all night.’”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
