Daniel Franzese never expected this Mean girls to become a cultural phenomenon with an unofficial holiday (it is October 3, after all), let alone change the course of his life. Twenty years later, he still feels the impact of the film.
“I knew it could be someone’s favorite movie, but I never thought it would be everyone’s favorite movie,” says Franzese, who at age 26 took on the role of Damian, the “almost too gay to be functioning” teen who is one of the most beloved characters in high school comedy.
The 2004 film was a box office success, but as Franzese told Yahoo Entertainment, “Everything is a two-sided coin.”
At the time, he was quietly navigating his own identity in an era when being openly gay in Hollywood could end a career. As Damian became a beacon of hope for generations of LGBTQ youth – a rare, unapologetic role model in mainstream media – Franzese found himself positioned to embody the character’s boldness while still grappling with his own truth behind the scenes .
“Damian in the movie was between ‘I think I’m gay’ and ‘my first kiss’, and that’s about where I was [in my personal life] too,” Franzese explained. But while his co-stars rode the wave of the film’s success, he struggled to find his next roles. It was a bittersweet moment when he realized that the very character that gave him so much strength seemed to be holding him back.
“Everyone [else] in Mean girls I was getting rich, and I just couldn’t afford to deal with them anymore,” Franzese recalled. “They said, ‘We’re all going to Hawaii,’ and I’m here saying, ‘Okay, bye! I have to sort out my rent. ”
For years, Franzese found himself “absolutely broke.” Mean girls became a modern pop culture classic.
“We were everywhere, but I had no money after that Mean girls” said Franzese. “All my auditions were pretty much backed up because I was a gay character, and I only got gay roles, that was it, and there weren’t many. That’s why I stopped working.”
At one of his lowest points, he sought help.
“I even wrote a letter to it [director] Mark Waters and [screenwriter] Tina Fey. I was like, ‘Please, I need a job. “I’m about to start working security at Target,” he said. “They said, ‘We’ll keep an eye on things!'”
Franzese kept herself busy by going to improv school and working in art galleries. The few roles he played were a discouraging reminder of how fame can cheapen the craft he loves.
“I did this movie once — I won’t name the actor because that would be mean — but on the first day on set I went up to the lead, who I really admired, and said, ‘I’m so excited about this movie,” to which the actor sarcastically replied, “Yeah, like this one will be good.”
Franzese continued, “I was like, ‘You’re the lead in the movie and that’s your attitude?’ I was so defeated that people were only there for checks and fame, not for the characters and making art. Hollywood lets me come out.”
As the years passed, Franzese realized that the love he received from fans was its own kind of reward: the countless stories of closeted teens who found their voices thanks to Damian’s self-confidence, some of whom, he said, were the “cool became a boy at school. thanks Mean girls.
Franzese has received letters from fans “as far away as Africa, Paris and Tokyo,” telling them how Damian had impacted their lives. “It’s amazing how far a voice can reach and what a person is capable of,” he said.
Their stories gave Franzese the courage to come out publicly in 2014. He wasn’t the only cast member from the film to do so. His co-stars Jonathan Bennett, who played heartthrob Aaron Samuels, and Rajiv Surendra, who played Kevin “G” Gnapoor, also came out publicly in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Franzese remembers the day he and Bennett approached each other during filming Mean girlsalthough both still felt pressure to stay in the closet.
“I remember we said, ‘You’re gay, right?’ and the other said, ‘Yeah, that’s what I thought too,'” he recalled of their on-set conversation. There were also moments of humor. “It’s funny: Jonathan and I were with some friends, both pretending to be straight, and we ended up going to a strip club together. It was hilarious.”
Bennett told Today in January that playing gay roles “fixes” parts of himself that he thought were broken early in his career.
The same can be said about Franzese. Just as Damian became a lifeline to those who saw themselves in him, he eventually learned to see himself in Damian.
“It drives everything I do,” he said, referring to projects like his role at HBO To lookwhere he played an HIV-positive character who thrived despite his status, as well as his stand-up comedy and his podcast,Yass, Jesus!
The blessing and curse of being Damian have not gone away, Franzese said. He just sees it differently now.
“For me it was all worth it,” he said. “I’ve realized that it’s okay to be frustrated sometimes in life, but now I want to show the world what I’m really capable of – not just as Damian, but as Daniel.”
