Stanley Tucci says he genuinely struggled to find work after The Devil Wears Prada .

The beloved actor starred opposite thespian titan Meryl Streep and then-up-and-comer Anne Hathaway in the 2006 film. While it went on to gross more than $326 million at the worldwide box office, Tucci recalls his acting offers dwindling shortly after.

After The Devil Wears Prada, I couldnt get a job, and I didnt quite understand that, but thats just the way it was, he told Vanity Fair in an interview published Tuesday. So I went and did stuff that I didnt necessarily want to do, but I did it.

The David Frankel-directed film was a genuine hit and made Hathaway a star , while Tucci who played the art director of its fictional Runway fashion magazine went on to supporting roles in critically panned projects like Four Last Songs and What Just Happened .

The actor ultimately established himself as one of the most talented actors of his generation, earning an Oscar nod for his performance as a serial-killing child rapist in Peter Jacksons The Lovely Bones (2009) a role he admittedly would never agree to again .

Tucci said Tuesday that his career has always gone through these fluctuations and that, while sometimes its just the business, more personal reasons often affected his opportunities. His first wife, Kate Tucci, battled cancer during Pradas production, and died in 2009 .

Tucci, who underwent treatment himself for a 2017 oral cancer diagnosis, eventually married former Prada co-star Emily Blunts sister Felicity and has since successfully joined the culinary world with the Emmy-winning travel series Searching for Italy.