“The Devil Wears Prada” screenwriter knows you hate Nate, and listen, she wholeheartedly agrees

There’s no argument that The Devil Wears Prada remains one of the most iconic movies of the 2000s. It’s the movie that made us fall in love with Emily Blunt, see Anne Hathaway are more than Mia Thermopolis, and fear (but admire) Meryl Streep. But most importantly, it introduced us to the least supportive boyfriend in the history of cinema: Nate. (This is debatable but let’s face it, he really sucks.)

At first watch, you might not hate Andy’s (Hathaway) chef boyfriend Nate because he’s played by your Drive Me Crazy crush Adrian Grenier. But watch by watch — because of course you’ve going to rewatch this iconic film dozens of times — you start to realize exactly how unsupportive and terrible he is regarding Andy and her journalism aspirations. And let’s face it, you’ve probably already read about a dozen think pieces and articles about what a garbage boyfriend Nate is.

But in case you forgot, here’s just a taste at how awful he is to Andy. He belittles Andy for working as an assistant to Miranda Priestly even though — and she explains this to him throughout the entire film — working for Miranda essentially ensures a lasting career in journalism. Honestly, he should get how important stepping stones are in a career unless, at 22, he’s already an executive chef at a five star Manhattan restaurant. Furthermore, he picks a fight about how much she’s “changing” when really, she’s becoming more confident and self-assured, which is reflected by her change of style. He also acts like Andy missed their wedding when she arrived late — and skipped out early during an important work gala — to his birthday dinner. We could go on, but you get the gist.

But it turns out, our visible hatred towards Nate has not gone unnoticed, as Aline Brosh McKenna, the screenwriter for The Devil Wears Prada, is totally aware that everyone thinks Nate is the worst.

“That was a ‘girlfriend’ part, really, McKenna explained to Entertainment Weekly. “That’s a part that a lot of women end up playing, the ‘why aren’t you home more,’ the naggy wife. I have to say, that character was the biggest challenge to write, and oddly, the character [director David Frankel] and I talked about the most, because we wanted to make sure he wasn’t a pain in the ass, but he is the person who is trying to say, ‘Is this who you want to be morally?'

While we totally admit that Nate is a really important character in demonstrating how much Andy has evolved — for better or worse — over the course of her time at Runway, we definitely think he was pain in the ass, but for important plot purposes.

“I think that now, however many years later, what people focus on is that he’s trying to restrict her ambition, McKenna added. “But her ambition is going towards something that she doesn’t really believe in, so he has a point. The part that makes me giggly when I read is him being upset about his birthday. It’s pretty whiney — but he does say later that it wasn’t what he was upset about.

But McKenna throws a lot of credit to Grenier, who had the thankless job of playing the college boyfriend who gets left behind. She continued,“I think Adrian does a heroic job of seeming like that actual college boyfriend, that guy who’s a drummer in a cool band, and plays intramural rugby, and plays guitar, and maybe took a ceramics class. I think Adrian just nails that, and it is a bit of a thankless role.”

So it seems that McKenna doesn’t totally think Nate was a villain, but can concede that he was pretty whiny and unsupportive. Sorry Nate, but making heaven-sent grilled cheeses doesn’t excuse your piss poor attitude.