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Get To Know “Looking” Star & Gifted Actor Daniel Franzese

by Ryan Shea

Manhattan Digest, Daniel Franzese

For any person in the late 20’s to early 30’s, they know how much of a fucking rockstar Daniel Franzese is.  The uber talented and incredibly handsome actor & activist has been at the forefront of many people’s minds and laughter since he shot to superstardom as the “Too Gay To Function” Damian in the megahit Tina Fey/Lindsay Lohan movie “Mean Girls”.  Damian possessed a huge comedic wit in that movie that paired incredibly well in his scenes with Lindsay Lohan and star of Masters Of Sex Lizzy Caplan, that there was no doubt in my mind that he had quite a bright future ahead for himself.

Since Mean Girls, his popularity has continued to be on the rise.  He has had guest starring roles on shows like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and my personal favorite TV series, “The Comeback.”  He also has launched a hilarious Youtube series called “S**t My Italian Mom Says” which has reached millions of views since its inception.  Now Daniel is starring in the 2nd season of HBO’s critically acclaimed series “Looking” in which he plays Eddie Bear, a openly HIV positive counselor in a homeless gay shelter who takes a liking to Agustin’s character, played by Frankie J. Alvarez.  Although the show has had its back and forth critiques, something that seems to be a constant with social media and critics is the positive feedback his character gets.  He has breathed a new life into the 2nd season of this show, and his ever growing relationship with Agustin’s character on “Looking” is a great distraction from the very present main character’s story lines of Kevin & Patrick.

With the season finale airing tonight at 10PM eastern, 9pm Pacific on HBO, Daniel was nice enough to sit down with me and discuss his rise in the entertainment world, his take on “Looking” and his new series that is debuting on ABC Family this coming fall.  Take a look at what the Brooklyn native had to say.

Hey Daniel, thanks for sitting down with me!  So I just saw that you went to TBRU (Texas Bear Round Up), one of the biggest bear events in the world.  Did you have fun and have you ever gone to one of those events before?

I’ve gone to bear parties before but I have never been to an organized bear event like that, ever.  It was absolutely wonderful and the bears there couldn’t have been nicer to me.  The friendliest group of people I have ever met.  This was a great indication of how I am known in the bear community as there wasn’t a bear there that didn’t recognize me from my work, which was quite the awesome feeling.

Let me ask you about the show you are on at hand and what everyone is talking about, Looking.  I’ve been a fan of the show since the first season and when i found out you were going to be on the show I was ecstatic for several different reasons.  How did this whole thing start for you?

Well I was having a conversation about the show with my friend Lori Malkin who is a casting director.  She asked if I was watching the show, which I wasn’t.  When she asked why I said no, I simply replied, “Because they never have bears like me on a gay show like that”.  She then followed up simply, “Then why not become the bear on that show?”.  I was all about manifesting destiny so I looked up the casting director who happened to be the first one I ever encountered when I did my first movie “Bully” back in 2001.  I wrote her an email, sent her some photos, and said “If you ever need a sexy bear!” to which she said “Well, you never know!”.  It turns out they were already thinking of the character Eddie and even further thinking of me to play him and then offered me to play the part.

Daniel Franzese, Manhattan Digest
Credit to: Andrew Jefferis

Not only are you the only bear on the show, but your character Eddie is also openly HIV positive which is a big part of your storyline with Agustin’s character, in particular the past two episodes.  Can you get a little bit into the process of how you immersed yourself into this character?

My neighbor and one of my best friends Ryan is HIV positive and we have coffee every morning together.  I knew him before he was poz and when I was getting the script and talking to him about it. The look on his face said it all as he was so excited that Eddie wasn’t being played as a victim and living a full and well adjusted life.  I know that was the intention from the beginning for Andrew Haigh and Michael Lannon was that they wanted Eddie to be someone who just happened to be HIV Positive and that it really wasn’t affecting Agustin’s decision to be with him.  Going into that portrayal I was excited more than anything to represent a very underrepresented community.

You surprised a lot of people by doing a full frontal sex scene with Agustin a couple of weeks back on the show.  Was that the first time you’ve done a scene like that and was it tough to film?

This is why I think it is good that you brought up the bear community as growing up as the chubby kid who wore my shirt in the pool all the time to having an opportunity in my first movie “Bully” in which I take my shirt off was really uncomfortable for me.  I have since then become very comfortable with my body and just from talking about guys in the past who have been into bears that aren’t bears themselves even and where their first inkling of where there attraction to a larger man came from.  I heard several people reference James Gandolfini being naked in a film was when they realized they were attracted to bigger guys, and I knew that being part of an underrepresented community that displaying nudity in “Looking” would possibly do that for future generations of guys to see the male form in a different view.   We all come from different shapes and sizes and I thought this was a way to see it sexualized in a different way.

Eddie is so vulnerable in that moment and has so many walls up and is trying to figure out if Agustin is really real and can handle his baggage.  I think in that moment he feels that “Oh no, this is where the HIV gets in the way and I lose this great thing, that’s why I don’t want to get serious”, and I think its such a difficult  moment for him because he is naked.

What is your take on how gay men are portrayed in the entertainment world in 2015?  Do you think we have hit our stride or do you think we still have to push forward in order for us to become more normalized to the general viewing public?

I’m not sure that Hollywood will ever get any minority right because it is totally judged off of a bunch of people’s different opinions and based on each individual project.  There will always be women that are marginalized, there will be African Americans that are marginalized, and in the same token there are gays that are. I feel like I love the way how “Looking” does it and how they show gay people in that story in San Francisco.  We get to see so many kinds of levels of stories and places that straight people live and I think there is a lot of pressure on “Looking” to represent the entire gay community, but I think that they are just telling a story about some people in SF and I think that is interesting in an under-looked at subculture.

Daniel Franzese, Manhatan Digest
Credit to: Andrew Jefferis

On top of looking, you have a new show set to air on ABC Family this coming fall called “Recovery Road”.  What can you tell us about it?

One of the coolest things about this is that it is written by my roommate in college Bert V. Royal who wrote the movie “Easy A”.  The other show runner Karen DiConcetto is a friend of mine for over ten years who played Snooki in the musical that i co-wrote called “Jersey Shoresical: A Freaking Rock Opera!”.  It is so great that I have two of my dearest friends that are going to be creating the part for me.  It is about a 17 year old girl named Maddie who has some problems with drinking and drugs in school so she makes a deal with her guidance counselor so they won’t expel her if she spends certain nights and weekends in an adult sober living facility.  I play a gay man who has addiction issues contributing to a weight gain; essentially I was a former gogo boy with a cocaine issue.

So these are some pretty deep roles you have been taking lately, however a lot of people know your comedic side from “Mean Girls” and your part on season one of “The Comeback”.  Do you prefer the dramatic side of things or the comedy parts?

Well “Recovery Road” is actually a comedy.  I think on “Looking” I’m pretty funny and definitely do love comedy.  It is my first love.  However I love horrors if they are scary and I love comedies if there is drama and dramas if they are poignant and meaningful. I just love good stories so if there is one there that is where I will go ultimately.

On a complete sidenote here, I hope that when they submit you for the Emmys that at least you and Lauren Weedman (Doris) get nominated for Guest Actor & Actress in a Supporting Role because you both really do great work on that show.

Actually, we are being submitted in the supporting categories.  I am being submitted for Supporting Actor In A Comedy.

Oh!  Well in that sense I hope they give you and “Looking” some love because it has kind of been the same shows winning year after year there and they could use some sprucing up with some new blood.  I mean, enough with “Modern Family” winning.  In other words… I WANT YOU TO WIN!

Thank you :).

You had a hit on Youtube with the hilarious “S**t Italian Moms Say”.  How did that whole thing get started?

My mother was the big inspiration for this, and she is sitting right here next to me while I’m chatting with you. My mom thinks that you said that i might get an Emmy is phenomenal!  The “Shit Says” meme was happening everywhere and I was waiting personally for an Italian one to happen.  Around the same time, right before the meme happened, my friend Michelle said to me “You can come to my apartment but I don’t have anything to offer, not even a piece of cake”.  We laughed for an hour over that and then we thought of all the things we could say or do and then my friend Lisa said “Let’s do this”.  We pulled it together one weekend and did two episodes and then the following weekend did another one.  It was really fun and hit a million views in six days.  It was really fun to watch it unfold.

Besides all of these amazing things, what else do you have going on in 2015?

I have a comedy coming out about five people who get hypnotized while the hypnotist has a heart attack and the people are stuck in its trance. I play a gay man who thinks he is a pregnant woman during this whole thing.  Really looking forward to seeing what people think about that.

Thanks again Daniel for sitting down with us and good luck with “Looking” and everything else you have going on!

Thank you so much!

For more on Daniel Franzese, you can check out his official sites here!

Twitter

Instagram

 

 

 

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, LGBT, MOVIES, TELEVISION Tagged With: daniel franzese, hbo, lindsay lohan, looking, mean girls, tbru, texas bear round up

Z100’s Jingle Ball 2013- Great and Not So Great

by Ryan Shea

Miley Cyrus, Miley, Manhattan Digest, Manhattan

Mlley Twerked? Shocker z100, shocker.

As a lifelong New Yorker, I have consistently found myself zooming through each radio station to find the perfect song to jam out in the car with.  Just like an American classic like Peanut Butter and Jelly, I always know that no matter what, Z100 radio station will always find the right song for me to shake my groove thing to.  Yes my groove thing.  If you want to make fun of me or judge me, do it.  I’m awesome.  As long as I have listened to z100 I have also wanted to partake in their biggest event of the year, Jingle Ball.  This station always pulls in some of the biggest names in the industry jam packed with a ton of celebrities introducing them and this year was no exception.  Now partnered with the “iHeartRadio” with this event and more, the festivities took place last night at none other than the legendary Madison Square Garden.  The place itself was of course sold out, and as a 27 year old grown ass man I felt like I could’ve been some of these kids teen fathers, but nevertheless I had an awesome time and the whole show had a really nice vibe throughout the night.  There were some definite highlights and lowlights though, so lets take a look at who did best, and who mmmmmmmmmmmm not so much.

Lowlights-

Random, random, random celebrities.  Most of the acts got really awesome people to introduce them, such as my homegirl Jordin Sparks and the star of my new favorite movie “Pitch Perfect”, Anna Kendrick.  Then… there were others.  First the z100 crew were great, and I am a huge Elvis Duran fan as I have been since I was about 10 or 11.  But… Katie Holmes?  Really, girl?  The snarky side of me was hoping she was going to introduce a Tom Cruise lookalike and beat him up or something, but that would’ve been too much fun for even me to handle.  They introduced Travie McCoy who was somewhere in the crowd but it became more like “Where’s Waldo” in which I couldn’t find him.  Not that he was that important anyways.  Finally, and this was both a highlight and a lowlight- R. Kelly.  I don’t get what he is trying to do lately, honestly.  Is he trying to find a younger audience with doing shows like this, where most people don’t even know what his last hit record is because they weren’t born yet?  At the same time, I did find it pretty amazing that a decent portion of the crowd was jamming along to his 2000 hit “Ignition”, so that is where the odd lowlight became a highlight.  I still didn’t understand why he was there though.  Oh, and let’s not forget to mention Lindsay Lohan, who is back in trouble with the court for ordering a hit on Paris Hilton’s douchey brother.  One word- GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

Fifth Harmony & Austin Mahone.  Note that I didn’t include all the big teen acts in here, as the other ones were pretty much incredible.  These two, not so much.  Fifth Harmony is the girl equivalent to One Direction, in that Simon Cowell himself chose five random girls and placed them in a group.  These five made it to the final 3 on “X Factor”, a show that is crumbling in the ratings and that pretty much no one really watched last season (only for the Britney factor of course).  I felt kind of bad for them as they were legitimately on for 3 minutes.  They did their hit “Miss Moving On” and then some random song and it legit felt like they were doing “Night at the Apollo” and being rushed off the stage due to being booed.  Terrible.  Girl groups are way hard to market, and that formula really hasn’t worked in ages since the days of Destiny’s Child and Spice Girls.  Fifth Harmony really just looks like five random girls plopped together in a group and sing.  That’s pretty much it.

As for Austin Mahone, he’s got a great voice but my hope for him is that he is kind of like the Lorde to Miley, in that he’s the anti Bieber.  HE LOOKED AND SOUNDED AND DANCED EXACTLY LIKE HIM.  Great singer and all, but I think his marketing team should try to distance himself from the Bieber image so that there aren’t that many comparisons. Just saying.

Jason DeRulo- Nothing about his performance was a lowlight, Jason has a great look and voice to him.  He didn’t deserve to have the first opening slot, which in my opinion is the forgettable one.  He has been around for a long time now, and I was truly confused over who got to perform later than earlier.  Fifth Harmony should’ve been first, maybe even Enrique.  But not Jason.  z100 for the loss here, great performance.

Miley (Kind Of).  I have a love/hate type thing with Miley.  I get it, but there are times where oversaturation can come into play, and last night she continued to do so.  More twerking, more of the same.  You have a great voice, you don’t need to pull all these ridiculous shenanigans to get people to pay attention.  Just sing.  Take tips from Gaga on that.  She needs it.  Other than that, great job :).

Highlights-

Selena Gomez & Arianna Grande- These are two girls that are on their way to true superstardom, and are doing it in a way that isn’t forced and just the great reliability of their voices and looks (cough cough Miley).  Selena looked amazing in this form fitting red dress, and she performed a medley of her hits including “Love You Like A Long Song” and “Come and Get It”.  On top of that, she did some bomb ass choreography which really made her set a very flourished show.  As for Arianna, she just has that voice that really resonates of a younger Mariah Carey.  She did her own version of the popular WHAM song “Last Christmas”, and of course closed her set with her top 10 hit “The Way”.  Mac Miller sadly wasn’t there, but she made up for it by putting a simple performance and making it really great.  Good job girls!

Fall Out Boy & Paramore- Proving that alternative still has a place on top 40, these two in my opinion were the stand out bunches of the night.  Fall Out Boy, who should’ve never dismembered in the first place, put on a rousing rendition of several of their hits, my personal favorite being the closing one with “My Song Knows What You Did In the Dark”.  Really a superb performance.  I’m a big Hayley fan, and her and Paramore really did a great job with their set as well.

Pitbull- Pitbull proved last night why he is “Mr. International” because he put on the most electrifying performance of the night.  Fueled by his current chart topper “Timber” with Ke dollar sign Ha, he really got the crowd’s energy going.  Smart move by z100 by placing him somewhat in the middle of this because he really kept the crowd going for what was coming next.  His closing out song, “Give Me Everything”, was truly a spectacle to watch.  I give this dude credit for making it this long in the industry.  Well done.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis- This was their year, and this was their night.  I love these guys so much, and it was great to finally see them perform live.  My favorite is of course “Same Love” which is such a great message to many people that goes beyond homophobia.  Best of the night in my opinion.

Overall, I would give the concert at 7 out of 10.  Apparently One Direction was there last year, which makes me happy I didn’t go as I would probably need a hearing aid at this point from all the screaming that occurred.  The show was good, but nothing really spectacular that I felt left me hanging for more and more.  Some of the acts should’ve gotten more stage time, and some shouldn’t have.  What did you think?  Sound off here and check out more articles like this on Manhattan Digest!

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC Tagged With: anna kendrick, austin mahone, concert, enrique iglesias, fall out boy, fifth harmony, Fun., jason derulo, jingle ball, jingle ball 2013, lindsay lohan, macklemore, Manhattan, manhattan digest, miley cyrus, music, one direction, paramore, paris hilton, Pitbull, pitch perfect, r. kelly, robin thicke, ryan lewis, z100

Gay men make girls look like Mother Theresa. Yup.

by Ryan Shea

Credit to: Tumblr
Credit to: Tumblr

 

I feel we owe it to ourselves to all fess up and say- Yup, I’ve been a bitch to that guy or groups of guys.  We all have been.  Now more than ever there is a strong vibe in our community that gay men start out like the nice Cady Heron in “Mean Girls” but end up being the vicious, backstabbing bitch that she becomes in the movie (sort of like Lindsay Lohan in real life.  Ahhh, how art imitates).  Yet, a lot of men tend to stay in the second zone without ever learning the life lessons which ultimately makes Cady likable in the end, especially breaking her plastic crown and sharing it with the rest of the crowd.  When it did become so socially acceptable for gay men to treat each other with such disdain and rudeness yet millions of us are screaming to the straight world that we want to be accepted? We can’t accept each other.  It’s beyond ridiculous.  Here are some reasons behind this philosophy.

You get the point.  Credit to Paper Blog.
You get the point. Credit to Paper Blog.

 

One- I was bullied growing up, so now it’s time to take revenge. I consider myself a fortunate gay man in the sense that growing up I was never bullied, called names like “fag” and “homo” in a serious matter and physically and/or emotionally abused like many other gay men and women were growing up.  This could’ve been in and outside of the school, but this is something that they take with them the rest of their lives.  This can incorporate itself in the gay community completely when you reach a certain age, find a group of guys to hang with, and become that group of mean girls we all hated back when we were growing up.  In essence, you were becoming that guy or girl that bullied you and exacting it upon other people.  Sure, it can make sense to you and some other people but really what are you getting out of it? In the grown world, these people never went after you, the ones that did it growing up did it for their own insecure reasons.  Don’t turn that around and think that two wrongs make a right, cuz really they never do.

Body Issues... one of the many things men gossip about.
Body Issues… one of the many things gay men gossip about.

 

Jealousy.  Bitterness. Resentment. Oh, he cheated on me.  We had bad sex.  I woofed at him on Scruff and he didn’t say thanks. I took him out to dinner once and he never got back ton me.  Four of zillion reasons why we talk shit behind others backs.  The best ones to me are when men talk about other men they have NEVER freaking met and act like they know them as well as their own family or best friends do.  It’s human nature, I get it.  We all talk about someone behind their backs.  The reasons for men of a certain age to do it in this community once again come off as childish and immature.  I had incident a couple of months ago where someone I knew from brief chats years ago decided to take it upon himself and ruin a couple of friendships of mine.  Luckily, the two in question that he tried talking to were mature enough to understand the shit he was trying to pull, and didn’t let it phase them or our friendship.  It makes me giggle though that people can be that insecure where something that was merely nothing three years back can still influence someone of a certain age to act like a 12 year old girl in order to prove a point.  It gets to be a bit silly.

Kudos if you know what he's saying here. Credit to WordPress.
Kudos if you know what he’s saying here. Credit to WordPress.

 

Maybe it’s just society that has led us to this conclusion. Is it just me or has Hollywood and the media in general embraced the bitchy gay guy? No, I am not mentioning if they are butch or queeny, that has nothing to do with it.  I mean just purely mean and rude in every which sense of the way.  From Jack MacFarland on “Will and Grace” to Anthony Marentino on “Sex and the City”, it sort of seems like there is a bit of typecasting which can lead to real life experience.  Several reality seem to pitch the same concept, in particular “Big Brother” which I am a huge fan of.  Every season (except for season 5) there is the bitchy gay guy.  Really it just makes us look bad especially in the heterosexual world where they already have a preconceived notion about it.  Yet as stated before, it can really lead to real life experiences in how we treat one another.

Listen, the moral here isn’t for us to hold hands, go to a yoga class and be super nice to each other because that would really make us look like a bunch of assholes.  I just think that this treatment of each other can lead to serious problems within gay men such as depression, body issues and a ton of other things that can ultimately hurt who they are in the long run.  Just think about what you are saying the next time you go to gossip.  That’s all.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, LIFESTYLE, OPINION Tagged With: cady heron, gay, jack mcfarland, lindsay lohan, mean girls, sex and the city, will and grace

Chatty Talk with Elise

by Elise Pentz

Kim K and Khloe K

Well, well, well …Drake is no longer wiping his tears from his poor attempt to win over Rihanna … because he has a new lady love. None other than the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s Tatyana Ali! They were just spotted getting cozy at the Supperclub, in LA a few short days ago! The only reason you should take this somewhat serious is because it was Drake’s birthday celebration… Could Tatyana be the new birthday cake?Additional Pic
Chris Culliver may be heading to the Super Bowl but he’s not winning any points for his homophobic remarks! So he apologized, SO WHAT! Actions speak louder than words buddy, stop with the hate & try some love. Kids look up to you, clown!Additional Pic

Brandi Glanville is at it again! When will this girl realize, nobodyyyy cares about her or her sad excuse for a life.  Well, I guess we are talking about it so we just like talking smack on her. To get back at her sexxxy (ex) hubby Eddie Cibrian,  she had a $12,000 vajayjay rejuvenation & charged it to his card!  Surprise! Well, well, well.. Looks like someone is looking to get skanky, I mean sexy, with some guys soon.

Additional Pic

Kim K. We get it. You are pregnant. To Kanye. We don’t care anymore. Congratulations.  Go away.Additional Pic
Lindsay Lohan – So, we all know she’s in court for killing someone, or something… with a car.. while drinking. But what some don’t realize is that she’s become so trashy apparently hotels won’t even allow her to stay there. She was refused from Santa Monica’s Shutters AND the Loews Hotel but can you blame them? Would you want that sleeping in your hotel & giving you a bad name? I think NOT! Especially when your party animal troll of a mom is always around. Baggage City!Album Cover

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, LIFESTYLE, OPINION, uncategorized Tagged With: brandi glanville, chris culliver, dina lohan, kardashian, khloe, khloe kardashian, kim, kim kardashian, lindsay lohan, lohan, superbowl

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