Daniel Franzese starred as one of the first gay characters in the film industry to be shown in countries where identifying as LGBTQ can cost your life. That’s because Mean Girls‘ Damian might have been too gay to function, but he never verbalized his sexuality in the movie, which allowed it to move past censorship, and many viewers around the globe got a glimpse of their first gay person. Foreign homophobes were probably screaming: She doesn’t even go here!

Regardless, Franzese is still here and proudly queer, and he was the latest celebrity eliminated on the 6th episode of RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race. Arrivederci, Donna Bellissima! Of course, this episode commenced with a proverbial shocker when RuPaul demanded all the contestants reveal their celebrity identities. Who would have thought everyone was exactly who most media outlets had guessed since Season 2 first aired? 

We caught up with Franzese to discuss Mean Girls, which judge he would put in the Burn Book, the struggles of performing drag as a “big man,” his vinyl skin suit, and the risky decision that got him eliminated.

QUEERTY: Would Donna Bellissima get along with the nice or mean girls at North Shore High School?

FRANZESE: Oh, where would she sit? That’s a really good question. She would have her own table—an unfriendly Italian hottie. 

What about if she had to put a fellow cast member or one of the judges in the Burn Book? 

I would put Michelle [Visage] in the Burn Book! But let me tell you something: I love Michelle Visage! I am a Michelle Visage friend, stan, fan, whatever you want to say. But she is MEAN sometimes! And they didn’t even show all the stuff that she said to us. RuPaul feels like mother, and Michelle feels like…

What would be the blurb?

It’ll be: “Michelle is taking over for the principal!”

Was it different performing once your identity was revealed?

I don’t know if it added any pressure. If anything, it was a relief. I was really excited for people to know I was doing this. Are you kidding me? I’m living the gay fantasy. I’m on the biggest queer stage in the world right now. And how exciting to be. But I had to be anonymous!

 

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How did it compare once you performed in a group to when you performed solo?

You know, when you perform in a group, you usually step off and go, “What was that combination again?” to your partner or whatever, but we were all in competition. And we weren’t looking at each other; we were looking straight ahead. And we got to do the number, tape-recorded it, and it’s like, OK, go home and rehearse it. So I didn’t have anyone to like ask, “Hey, how did that go? Or can we get in unison?”

It was kind of like every queen for themselves. And that was a little nerve-wracking. Because being a person that comes from theater, I’m used to being very collaborative and having camaraderie and putting something together. But we were all competing against each other. Even though we were kind to each other, there was a little bit of I hope they mess up! Normally, you want everybody to do good, but this was like, I hope I do good, and everybody else falls and breaks a nail!

I was surprised when you used the phrase “less is more,” which I’ve never heard someone use to describe drag, especially performing a song by RuPaul. What made you want to embrace such simplicity?

Well, you know, all the critiques said that I was too much, too much, too much. So I was grasping at straws, I think, at that time, trying to look not only at my own critiques but my colleagues to see what the judges were looking for. And I thought, hey, I won the week before with a really big dance number. I just did a group number this week. So perhaps, if I pare it down a little bit.

I had a different vision for the creative. Initially, I wanted to sit on a moon and have paper mache shoes that the heels went all the way down to earth because I thought it would be funny to be wearing the biggest heels ever. And then there should be a fan, and then eventually the fan would blow my dress off. I was pitching like a Miss Piggy Muppets Show number. And they’re like, “We can’t have a big fan. And these are the shoes!” And it all started to sort of like fall apart. Sometimes the creative doesn’t come exactly how you want it. People don’t see your vision, and I just had a roll with what I had. 

 

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Your vinyl skin suit was my favorite costume of the night. So I feel at least they got that right. You referenced body positivity as the reason you wanted to take a risk with your number. Why was this theme so important to get across? 

All you can do is try to beat yourself and be better than you felt every time. I’m used to being a big man. But being a big woman, there were all these things that I had to deal with that I never had to deal with before. A great example was in the group number. All of my competitors had clear slip-on shoes, and they couldn’t find any in my size. So they painted my shoes a nude color for me, right? So I was always different; I was always less than. I can’t have the things everyone else has because it doesn’t exist for me. 

I think that being naked as a woman was my way of pushing myself to the total vulnerability of femininity and the total vulnerability of visibility. And the song is called “Born Naked,” and the rest is drag, so it made total sense to strip myself down. If I felt that, as a woman, I’m not beautiful. Then here I am going to be a completely negative Botticelli goddess. And I really wanted to try to sell that. Unfortunately, some of the creative came out a little rushed and janky compared to what I envisioned in my head. But that’s for another time.

Absolutely. And you know, this past June, on your podcast, you talked about being brainwashed into conversion therapy when you were younger. And now you’ve come full circle from starring in Mean Girls, one of the gayest movies ever to exist, to performing drag on the gayest stage on television. How does it feel to see yourselves experience this completely extraordinary evolution?

Damien never actually came out of the closet. He never got to kiss anybody and never admitted in the movie he was gay. That became super impactful because the movie made it through many places where they censor gay stuff. Everyone gets angry when in movies like Finding Dory or Lightyear, there’s potentially a gay kiss or gay character. And here’s a movie where because Damian didn’t come out as gay, he made it to Dubai, he made it to Asia, Africa, and other places where they censor a lot of that footage. So Damian was an example of a gay person for a lot of people who didn’t have one.

And now here I am, years later, and I’m on the biggest stage in the world, where we’re celebrating diversity and equality. It’s amazing to see the final reaction. It’s amazing to see me be able to get the opportunity to express myself that way. I think the evolution of that is nothing less than astounding. I don’t know if 20 years ago, I would have thought that something like this, the world would have been ready for that.

 

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A post shared by Daniel Franzese (@whatsupdanny)

 

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A post shared by Daniel Franzese (@whatsupdanny)

 

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A post shared by Daniel Franzese (@whatsupdanny)

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