'The Devil Wears Prada' director David Frankel doesn't think Nate is the villain of the movie

• "The Devil Wears Prada" director David Frankel told Insider he doesn't think Nate was the villain.
• Frankel said that Nate was the voice of his girlfriend Andy's conscience as she began changing.
• The director said that by the end, the two characters come to appreciate each other's perspectives.

"The Devil Wears Prada" director David Frankel reacted to fans referring to Nate as the villain of the hit movie.

"I don't think he's a villain at all," Frankel told Insider during an interview for the movie's 15th anniversary.

Since "The Devil Wears Prada" was released in theaters in 2006, fans have weighed in on who they think is the actual antagonist of the story.

Some have criticized Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) for applying for a highly coveted job at a fashion magazine that she barely knew anything about. Others have suggested that Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the much-feared editor-in-chief with impossibly high standards, was the villain. (Frankel, however, believes she's the heroine.)

But most fans have pointed to Nate (Adrian Grenier), Andy's boyfriend who makes port-wine reductions all day, as the most problematic character.

As Andy become more immersed in the fashion world and underwent a makeover, Nate called her out for changing herself. She also bailed on Nate's birthday party at the last minute because she was needed back at the office, which led to him sulking when she returned home late that night.

But, to Frankel, these events don't make him the antagonist.

"I think he loves Andy and I think that he's disappointed when she does seem to be straying from values that she had advocated so firmly for so long," Frankel said.

During a later scene in the movie, Nate told Andy that she "used to make fun of the Runway girls. Now you've become one of them. Just own up to it, and then we can stop pretending that we have anything in common anymore."

Frankel said he agreed with Nate's assessment of his girlfriend, who went from wearing frumpy mismatched outfits to head-to-toe designer attire.

"You look at her and she's a very different person and for sure, the sacrifices of friendship and the choices that she makes are choices that she ultimately comes to regret," the director said. "And so he's in many ways, the voice of her conscience."

Frankel said that the intention at the movie's conclusion was for Andy and Nate to come to understand each others' perspectives and get back together.

"I think he has learned by the end of the movie that life is not a straight line, that there are compromises that you need to make," Frankel said. "And yes, it would be great if you could make perfect grilled cheeses every day. But you also have to make Béchamel sauce or whatever."

He added: "There are curves in the road. And so I think she appreciates him for his objectivity and then he appreciates her for the journey that she's been on."

Grenier, for his part, recently told Entertainment Weekly that he initially didn't understand why fans disliked his character.

"I was just as immature as him at the time, so I couldn't see his shortcomings, but, after taking time to reflect and much deliberation online, I can realize the truth in that perspective," the actor said. "Nate hadn't grown up, but Andy had... she needed more out of life, and she was achieving it. He couldn't support her like she needed because he was a fragile, wounded boy"

Hathaway also spoke out in defense of Nate, telling the publication: I don't think everybody's being completely honest with themselves about their own poutiness."

She added: "Nate was pouty on his birthday because his girlfriend wasn't there! In hindsight, I'm sure he wishes he made a different choice, but who doesn't? We've all been brats at different points."