While his co-stars reprise their roles in the hundred-million-dollar sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, Adrian Grenier is starring in an awkward coffee commercial.
Grenier, 49, who played Nate, the much-maligned boyfriend of Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs in the 2006 cult classic film, appears in a new 30-second Starbucks ad on the same day that Meryl Streep graced the cover of Vogue as her character, Miranda Priestly.
“You might have seen the headlines—I wasn’t asked to be part of a certain sequel,” the Entourage star says in the new ad, looking directly into the camera. “I’m good. Really. It’s all good energy.”
As the camera pans out, it’s revealed that the actor was talking to an uninterested Starbucks barista. Grenier then turns to the crowded cafe and makes a toast to his character.
“So a toast to Nate! He made a mean sandwich. He loved his girlfriend... to a point,” he says to a crowd who gives him the cold shoulder just like his former castmates. “OK, so he wasn’t perfect.”
Last month, Grenier revealed that he had never even received a call to be in The Devil Wears Prada 2, despite several of his co-stars reprising their roles, including Streep, Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt.
“Obviously, it was a disappointment that I didn’t get the call to be in the sequel,” he told Page Six in March. “I also understand that there’s some backlash with Nate, so that might have something to do with it. Either way, it’s a disappointment.”
In the original film, Nate sulks about Andy’s new “shallow” interests in fashion and her loss of free time from her new job with Priestly. He even breaks up with her after she misses his birthday party.
“So let’s leave Nate back in 2006, and keep this good energy going,” Grenier concludes in the new commercial.
After the new film’s logo flashes onscreen, Grenier makes one final declaration.
“I mean, if they call... I’m free,” he admits.
The commercial, an official collaboration between the blockbuster film and the coffee company, was a sad consolation prize for Grenier, whose only interaction with The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be from a movie theater seat.
Grenier even made a plea for a Nate-focused spinoff of the beloved first film, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Even though they find room for Grenier in the new film, Disney made sure to use him in their promotion machine.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 will premiere in theaters on May 1.
