Los Angeles, April 15 (IANS): Actress Lily James burst into tears the first time she met her idol and veteran actress Meryl Streep.

James, 29, who portrays Streep's character Donna's younger self in the sequel of "Devil Wears Prada", and was overcome with emotion when she was waiting to meet Streep on set, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Speaking in an interview with a digital magazine, James said: "Meryl was singing this song in a chapel and it was so emotional. I was sat outside knowing I was about to meet her. And crying. And it was like 'Hold it together, Lily', it was too much."

James tried not to focus on Streep while filming, but in her spare time she was cramming in research into the character and her co-star.

"I tried not to focus on the Meryl Streep-ness of it all, but tried to focus on the Donna Sheridan-ness of it all. Having said that, I did go through all of Meryl's movies, especially stuff from when she was younger. I loved watching 'Postcards from the Edge' - there's a spunky kind of madness where she sings in that - and even 'Death Becomes Her'."