Meryl Streep may have played an inspired version of her in The Devil Wears Prada , but in the documentary The September Issue (out September 11), director R.J. Cutler had the daunting task of filming the real lady under the famous bob and behind the dark glasses, American Vogue editor Anna “Cold As” Wintour, a woman so powerful in fashion Coco Chanel would seek her out for advice if she were still alive. For eight months, Cutler, who produced the 1993 Clinton campaign documentary The War Room , followed Wintour and her staff as they prepared the magazine's 840-page September 2007 issue, and watched Wintour airbrush celebrities, launch new designers' careers, and give the old ones the thumbs-up or -down. You also get to see the warmer, fuzzier side of Wintour as she strolls through her Hamptons estate with daughter Bee (yes, it has children) and still wears enough fur to clothe an entire family of Eskimos. PETA protectors, start baking your pies. This screening is part of the Paley Center's retrospective of Cutler's past film and TV documentaries through August 9. n

Wed., Aug. 5, 7 p.m., 2009

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