When BJ Novak books a supporting role in a film or a guest spot on a television series, he’s often asked to bring a selection of his own clothes to wear on camera — so, he figured he’d do the same on The Devil Wears Prada 2.

“I showed up to the wardrobe department on my first day having brought my own things,” says Novak. “Then I walk into this two-story warehouse that every designer in the world has been flooding them with requests.”

To be clear, Novak does not get to play a fashionista in the comedy. Twenty years after the first film, the sequel finds the publishing house behind the fictional Runway magazine at a bit of a crisis point. And his character, the company’s scion, is very quickly put at odds against the still-intimidating editor Miranda Priestly (played by, of course, Meryl Streep). Adding to the tension between the two characters, Novak almost exclusively wears tech apparel and athleisure and rarely looks up from his phone. “At least it was a very comfortable wardrobe,” adds Novak.

This high-profile supporting gig is a departure for the actor-writer, who most recently starred in his feature directorial debut — the 2022 black comedy Vengeance. He hasn’t taken on much acting work of late. He’s been busy growing a niche food empire and writing bestselling children’s books. He’s always threatening (his word) to return to stand-up, and he and his close friend Mindy Kaling have even joked about starting a podcast.

Speaking for the better part of an hour in mid-April, Novak seems to be signaling with his villain turn in The Devil Wears Prada 2 that he’s open to more acting gigs than Hollywood might expect. He’s still a writer. He just has a broader definition of the word than most.

Are you a fashion person, or was this all kind of a novelty to you?

People sort of dress like Fisher-Price characters: the dad, the construction worker, the mail person, man, woman. It’s more like that, which is thought of as all you need. But Mindy’s from Boston, too, and she went the complete fashion route.

I’d argue that you are now canonically, across two films, the worst-dressed character in The Devil Wears Prada franchise.

That’s an honor. It’s great to stand out, to have a strong character choice made for you. So yes, I think that’s a great distinction.

We’re speaking just after you went to the New York premiere, which was big even by film premiere standards. Do you enjoy that part of the job?

I overthink everything, so I have a hundred theories and perspectives on how to be. I should just relax and enjoy it. These people who I had a great time with on set, I’m like, “Oh, well, now are they in movie star mode? Do they want to talk to their agent? Do they want to talk to their family?” I stuck to myself and hung out with my family and friends.

You obviously wear many hats, so to speak, but I’d argue that a lot of your for-hire acting work was earlier in your career — back around Inglorious Bastards. You do a lot of projects that are self-generated or reunions with past collaborators. Did you seek this project out?

This was Aline Brosh McKenna, a friend of mine and the screenwriter and producer of the movie. I think she’s a big fan of writer-actors. I got a text from her that just said, “Let me know what you think!” I was like, “Did she text the wrong person?” Then I thought, oh man, she probably has some pilot that she’s stuck on that she’s trying to pass off onto me. The next day she texts again, “Do you hear from your agent yet?” Finally she picks up the phone and she’s like, “It’s The Devil Wars Prada 2. You play so-and-so. All of your scenes are with Meryl Streep. Everyone already approved you. We shoot in the summer in New York, Milan and Lake Como.” This is an insane phone call. This is not generally the call you get.

How much are you putting yourself out there to act?

Aline asked me something like that: “Don’t you want to act more?” What am I supposed to do? Stare at my phone harder? People will call. I get sent stuff and I read it sometimes. Maybe if I really made acting a pursuit. … Like, a lot of actors, they’ll go shoot something in Slovenia for three months just to keep busy. I have so much writing. I’m really a writer. I write all the time. I’d say my role model would be someone like Rob Reiner. He was a director, but whenever he acted, he was awesome. People knew who he was. Or Sydney Pollack or Greta Gerwig. These are directors and they’re great actors when someone calls on them. So I’d love to do that, but I don’t get so many requests.

As someone who has already just described themselves as an overthinker, is there any psychological crisis associated with having to talk down to Meryl Streep on camera?

Yeah, I really had to psych myself up. When I got this role, my emotion was to just be in awe of the greatest actor of all time and in one of her best roles ever and just sort of enjoy the ride. No. If you really respect this person, you need to give her the best scene partner that you possibly can. You have to put all that aside and then enjoy it after the day is wrapped. She is so much fun. Comedy people gravitate towards each other. And, on set, I got the sense that she’s a comedy person in some way. It was so much fun for me. But, in general, when I went into that mode, I just didn’t allow myself to indulge in the reverence because she deserves better. But it was very fun to walk into a movie where not only is this character the worst dressed but has the least respect for this person that anyone’s ever expressed.

You wrote, directed and starred in Vengeance a few years back. How did tackling something that large inform what you think you might want to do in the future.

I learned that I really see everything in terms of writing. If I’m directing, I’m just writing with the camera, writing with the score, writing with the actors. I think writing is the wrong word for writing. It’s really composing, imagining, executing a vision. It has so little to do with spelling or grammar or the things that intimidate people out of writing.

Rebranding writing might be a good way to future-proof it, at least in respect to AI. You could lead the marketing campaign.

I would like to! Honestly, whether or not it’s AI-related, I do find so many people say, “Oh, I’m not a writer.” It’s because they got a bad spelling test in fourth grade. I’m serious. And they’ve always thought, “Well, I’m bad at this. ” Handwriting, spelling, putting words on paper … that is so little of it. There are so many people that are good at those parts and are really boring. It deserves a rebrand.

I read you reference your first children’s book, The Book With No Pictures, as the project that you’ve made the most money from. Is that true?

That’s probably true. But it’s the one I thought about money least as I was making it — which is a nice lesson. It doesn’t always work out that way.

I realize you have a second, but are there more children’s books in you?

I want to do a lot more in that space. Kids being funny isn’t unlocked enough. Not enough people are doing it right. So, yeah, I love that stuff. I have more coming.

The FX show you created, The Premise, had an episode about Lola Kirke playing a woman sort of undone by a negative comment about her online. I was going to watch it before we spoke, but the whole series was wiped from streaming when that was happening a lot a few years back. How was that decision communicated to you?

It just disappeared. And there are no hard copies of something like that. I don’t know where it is or where it went. I don’t even remember how I heard that. I think I got a text from an actor that just said, “Hey, I can’t find it.” And then a tweet online, like, “Hey, is there any way I can view this? I was telling someone about it and I realized it wasn’t there.”

Do you have any digital copies of your own?

I don’t think so. I like to think I could track it down if I needed it. Come to think of it, I don’t know. Maybe they did it for my own good.

Is there a lesson in that? Hollywood has changed so dramatically since you started working in this system. Streaming shows still get raptured all the time.

That is one area I’d probably underthink what is happening and what to do about it. I feel a weird optimism that if you make good things and you’re inspired, that there’s always a market for that. Some scheming individual will find a way to make a profit on whatever will entertain people. I’m optimistic about the changing digital landscape and distribution channels and everything. It’s like the food industry. If there’s a human need and people are making that thing, the economics will eventually find their way. That is probably naive.

You are in the food business with Chain, which recently sold a stake to Fox Entertainment. Maybe I’m being ignorant, but that seemed like strange bedfellows to me. What are the intended fruits of that deal? What do you want them to be?

We’ll see where it goes. Chain really started as a funny idea. What if you could make these Michelin gourmet versions of the kind of food people really like eating. I really like eating that stuff. Eventually it got popular, and I think people heard about it. Gordon Ramsay has had such success with Fox. It really is about the Gordon Ramsay aspect of it. They got in our business with him to figure out something to do with Chain.

Back to that episode of The Premise. You said at the time that this character obsessed with a negative comment was the closest proxy to you in that series. Have you ever been that online?

It’s definitely something I could identify with. I used to read comments in the early days. Everyone has this experience, one way or another: You hear one negative thing even amidst many positive things, and it’s the one thing that you can’t shake. Why? Is that what we are hoping to hear, even though it’s what we are fearing? You can sometimes feel understood, right or wrong, by a negative comment in a way that a positive one will just go right by you. The idea for this was someone who feels that only their hater understands them.

When did you learn to not read the comments?

You play with fire, you get burned. You see something that not only is it mean —  but maybe you think it’s funny or it’s smart, you agree with it. Then I thought, “Why am I doing this to myself?” The book Let Them had not come out. If I had read Let Them, that would’ve changed my life back then.

Let Them kind of changed the way I approached a few things in my life.

I love Let Them. And I also like when Mel Robbins goes on talk shows she’ll even say, “You might think you know the whole book just from the title. Maybe you do? You don’t need to buy it!” That made me want to buy it.

Even if you’re less online, I’m sure you’re still aware that the internet is rather obsessed with your friendship with Mindy Kaling.

Right.

Just a casual Google of you before our conversation, every pull from you on the red carpet or your appearance on Andy Cohen’s show… it’s about you and Mindy. Have the two of you tried to diagnose this public fascination? It’s lovely, but it seems like a lot.

I totally know it. That’s a great example of, “Let them.” They ask me about my life, I answer, and that’s the only thing they want to write a story about? Let them. I’m not going to tell someone that question is off limits. Let them.

“Let them” could be the new “no comment.“

Wow. Maybe I’ll start using that.

You’ve been spending more time in New York, where the comedy club culture is a bit bigger and definitely lasts later in the evening than in Los Angeles. Does that have you thinking more about getting back into stand-up? Because you’ve teased that a lot over the years.

Constantly. I’m always threatening to do it —  testing material on friends, writing stuff down. It’s a lot to jump into. It’s has been years, but it stays with me the whole next day. I don’t know if other comics feel this way … but if I did well on Thursday and I’m back up on Saturday, I’m feeling great till Saturday. If I do badly on Saturday, I feel bad until I’m back up on Wednesday. I carry it with me emotionally all week. But if I’m going to really commit to getting back into it, I’m going to be bad at first. And it’s a lot. But I really do miss being funny.

I’m not telling you something you don’t already know, but you’ve also lost the ability to be anonymously bad. People will go in with expectations.

I know. It’s bad in every way. I can suck on stage and that could be completely true, but it’s not fair to judge someone on their first show. That sucks. Also, if you’re really funny or say things that are dark or too far, and that gets recorded, there’s no distinction anymore between that and an interview quote. It’s a pull quote. Pete Davidson is a really good stand-up. Whatever he says on stage, any headline can use that. People take that out of context.

Anything can be a pull quote now. Podcasts used to be safe, but that now that’s all clip fodder.

Mindy and I talk about doing a podcast sometimes, and I told her the title should be, This Quote Is Taken Out of Context. So anytime they quote anything from it, they have to say that.

Going back to your comment about waiting for the phone to call for acting work. This many years in your career, do you feel the industry understands what you bring to the table and what to do with you?

I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to make their own fate and prove themselves. Nothing has been handed to anybody. I’m very lucky that I can self-generate work. That is on me. So, probably, they don’t know what to do with me. Let them!