| | |  | Fran Drescher News & Gossip
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| | Fran Drescher: 'it's a conversation now about the culture of big business' | | Added 449 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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The Venice Film Festival begins tomorrow, followed closely by Telluride and then Toronto. I?ve waxed poetic before about the impeccable conduct of actors and union leaders during the strike, and now that Tepid Film Festival Fall is officially underway, I am very eager to see the next phase play out. I feel like the tone may be about to shift, given that there?s so much business involved with the festivals. This may be why we saw SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher record a composed, if somewhat sober interview last week. Once again she emphasized that the writers and actors strikes are about all workers, not just Hollywood. A few choice quotes:
No
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| | Fran Drescher finally got the Covid vaccine 'because I kept losing work!' | | Added 489 days ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Those of us who are older than, what? 35 years old? We remember all of the highs and lows of Fran Drescher?s life. So it?s especially wild to see her as the president of SAG-AFTRA, summoning every nuance of her outer-borough accent to sound every bit like a tough union boss. Drescher has been giving tons of interviews since she broke off the ?negotiations? with the AMPTP and called for a strike last week. She spoke to Variety this week about what led to the strike, how she came to the position of union boss and what SAG-AFTRA is trying to do. She also talked about vaccines and it got a little bit nutty, but Fran fans know that about her too. Some highlights:
Whether she thinks she was initially too optimistic about AMPTP negotiations: ?This is my first negotiation. In hindsight, I could see how we were being manipulated. But at the time, I came into it with a certain level of trust, that we would actually be able to make a contract. But whenever we start getting to the meat of these situations, we start to see that we?re getting stonewalled. We?re coming back with open response counter proposals, and so, actually, in earnest we still gave them an unprecedented 12-day extension to come back with something really meaningful. And during that time, they canceled our negotiation meetings. And, again, I thought, maybe they?re duking it out behind closed doors, maybe they?re gonna come back with something that we can really start to roll up our sleeves. They just wanted to get more time to promote their summer movies and they had no intention of using that extension for anything else.
Whether she has regrets about being duped: ?I?m always going to try and give a person the truth. I hoped to avert a strike ? that is the ideal. Going on strike is not the original point. That?s when you feel like you can?t make a deal. But if you feel like you can make a deal? Hindsight is always 20/20. But even during that period when they woke up, they said, ?We?re still in our room,? talking about how to counter your proposal. So, it?s like, OK, well, maybe that?s good. We wanted to avert a strike, if at all possible.?
The journeyman actors were the ones pushing for a strike: ?Remember, Tom Cruise and top people make their own deals. That?s not who we are striking for. We?re striking for the journeyman?they?re the ones that were pushing us to strike, OK? They?re the ones that are living this level of oppression. They feel like they can?t take any more of it, because they are being economically squeezed out of their livelihoods. If they?re willing to take this huge step of sacrifice, then we?re in it to win it. If this was a different point in history, where the business model didn?t change so dramatically, and suddenly with streaming and digital and AI. It?s a whole new game! If you think that we don?t have to unpack the old contract and change it exponentially I don?t know what to say.
Whether she worries about being blacklisted as an actress: ?My speech at that press conference reverberated around the world. It spoke to workers everywhere; it is bigger than the sum of its parts. I?m not going to worry about my career. I?ve had a fantastic career. If anybody in this industry wishes to blacklist me or being on the side of right and good, then whatever. I follow Buddhist teaching or call myself a Jew Bu. I let life unfold. I don?t have a crystal ball. I?m not going to speculate. I don?t know where this will lead. All I know is in the now, which is what Buddhism teaches you, to remain present. This is my calling and I?m going to meet this moment.
Figuring out the longer vision: ?The greed of these entities and the shiny baubles that they put before the shareholders, obliterates a longer vision, a far sightedness of where this should go or how to manage it correctly. And they just jump in. They sell the shareholders, and all of this is bullsh-t. Then when they really get into the trenches with the costs, what do they do? They look right away to the performer to squeeze them, because God forbid they should take away from the CEOs. Do they do character driven smaller stories. No! They got all these flying dragons and bullsh-t and it?s expensive and all the big stars and it?s very expensive and all of that is what they wanted to do. The idea that if you spend 80% on production, maybe spend 79% and we can get our fair share. And the money that?s paid for all this, including the CEO salaries, is in subscriptions! It?s not in episodes or seasons anymore.
On Covid protocols & vaccine mandates: ?I felt like the COVID protocols, pre-vaccine, were successful. People went back to work. It was a manageable situation. Then, with the advent of the vaccine, it turns into something else. In California, private business can determine their own health policy. And they decided that rather than constantly be shut down, everybody had to be vaccinated if they wanted to work. Even though there was constant information coming out that you can still get it. And once you got it, are you as good as inoculated by the virus. There was a lot of ifs ands or buts. And the dangerous aspect of it all was that people were being fed different news. There wasn?t one narrative. And since 80% of all ad dollars on most broadcasts comes from big pharma.
Whether she got vaccinated: ?I did because I kept losing work! I did it, in spite of the fact that I was a little scared to do it. Because I have my own health issues, cancer survivor, all of this stuff, but I decided to just let the universe help me through this because I don?t know what to do. All I know is that I want to work. But a lot of people it was just that they didn?t have a choice. And they didn?t have a career during that time, either as a result, and I always felt like I?m not a dictator. I can only keep bringing the conversation to the board. I?m trying to get them to see that we should push back on this. I was not successful at that.
[From Variety]
The vaccine stuff was totally cringe and she should have just left it at something like ?I was trying to advocate for all actors, even the anti-vaxx dumbasses.? Unfortunately, it sounds like she was one of the anti-vaxx dumbasses who only got vaccinated because, oh right, those vaccine mandates actually did work. As for the rest of it while I?m not a SAG member, I think it?s fine that she did the 12-day extension, even if it turned out to just be a scam. It showed that she was operating in good faith and she was willing to do what she could to avoid a strike and make a deal. When the scam was laid bare, that?s when she showed her backbone and walked away. Anyway? I hope she continues to burn the sh-t down.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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| | Fran Drescher: my husband came out as bisexual the last 7 years of our marriage | | Added 13 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Fran Drescher has a new sitcom coming out on June 15 on TV Land called Happily Divorced. We’ll be treated to her nasal voice, ear-splitting gaffaws and terrible outfits soon enough. I find The Nanny mildly annoying when it’s dubbed on German television, but it’s a huge hit still and is syndicated around the world so I get why Fran is back on television. (She had another series in 2005 on The WB called Living with Fran, but that only last a year.) Fran produced the Nanny along with her then-husband, who was with her for 21 years starting as her high school sweetheart and came out as gay after they split up. I vaguely remember hearing this story before, but it’s still very interesting to hear Fran explain it as the plot for her new show. She’s now friends with her ex and he has a new boyfriend. They’re even producing this new show together.
Fran Drescher plays Fran, a Los Angeles florist whose world is turned upside down when her Realtor husband, Peter (John Michael Higgins), comes out of the closet - but can’t afford to move out! And the real Fran is bringing this story to life with Peter Marc Jacobson, her longtime collaborator and actual ex husband, who announced he was gay shortly after their marriage ended! Fran tells Star about one of Hollywood’s most unlikely partnerships.
So how realistic is this story?
Well, it’s inspired by my life, but Peter and I divorced for other reasons after The Nanny ended. Then, a year or two after that he came out as gay.
How did he break the news?
He said, “I want you to know that I have been dating men of late, and I don’t want you to be shocked if a story comes out.” I was already with somebody else for a couple of years, so it didn’t impact me in the same way that it does my character?
Have [you] ever gone to [your] ex husband for relationship advice, like your character does on the show?
Actually, I dated a guy for about a year who gave me that inspiration. We were becoming friends as a trio, so if I had problems Peter would be the one who helped me resolve it. Peter became a confidant to me because he knows me so well, so through this other person we actually got closer.
Is it really possible to be with a man and not know he’s gay?
Maybe the last third of the marriage Peter got in touch with his bisexuality, but we made the choice to stay in our relationship. So we lived together for several more years. But then I needed to find myself and had a very cliche midlife crisis!
[From Star Magazine, print edition, June 20, 2011]
The real story is at the end, where Fran says her husband came out as bisexual toward the last third of their marriage, which would have been about seven years and that they stayed together through that. Was he seeing men on the side and did she give her ok to that? I can’t imagine doing that and I doubt the show will address it at all. It will probably be Will and Grace with a twist, with some contrived situations with the new boyfriend and lame jokes about their sexless marriage.
Header photo is from 2007. First Photo below from 2/24/11. Photo of Fran in white dress from 6/9/11. Holy Botox. Credit: WENN.com
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| | Fran Drescher developing sitcom based on true story of her gay ex husband | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Nasal-voiced wonder Fran Drescher, 52, was married to a man for 21 years who ultimately came out as gay. Fran is best of friends with her ex, Peter Marc Jacobson, a writer/actor who co produced the hit 90s sitcom on which Fran starred, The Nanny. The two were separated for several years before divorcing in 1999. Now Jacobson and Drescher are working on a sitcom together loosely based on their true life experience. It sounds positive and potentially fun, although given their past work it could easily veer into pure cornball territory:
Fran Drescher has never been shy about voicing her support for gay rights: In 2008, she and her former husband co-hosted a cocktail party in LA to benefit an organization that has sought to block California’s ban on same-sex marriage. But it turns out that the cause was even closer to the Nanny star’s heart than her fans could have guessed — as In Touch can now exclusively reveal, Peter Marc Jacobson, the man to whom Fran, 52, was married for more than two decades, is gay. “Peter and I met when we were 15,” Fran tells In Touch. “We were just kids and didn’t know who we truly were. We went through a lot together.” The couple split for good in 1999, and according to an insider, Peter later came out of the closet to Fran. They continue to collaborate and are still “the best of friends. We love each other dearly,” she says. “We have even fixed each other up! I more successfully than him, by the way.” They’re even working together on a new sitcom based on their relationship. “Peter and I feel so blessed to have met each other and to still have a caring, loving relationship,” Fran says. “Love is what we’re all about.”
[From In Touch Weekly via Huffington Post]
It sounds like these two are still pitching this show and hoping to get some interest in it. They could probably use the money, but I bet they still do pretty well off the residuals for The Nanny. As annoying as that show is, it really appeals to international audiences and is shown in 20 other countries around the world, including Australia, Italy and Russia. I see it dubbed on German TV all the time. Maybe this new show will be a hit for them, although it’s hard to imagine that it will be groundbreaking in any way or involve any characters that aren’t predictable stereotypes. Hopefully their storytelling ability has matured in the past 10 years.
Fran Drescher and Peter Marc Jacobson are shown in 2007 in the header. She is shown below on 4/2/10. Holy Botox! Credit: WENN.com
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| | Fran Drescher overshares on Twitter | | Added 15 years ago | Source: The Blemish |
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From an update posted 19 hours ago on Fran Drescher’s Twitter account: “Reading an LA mag. Saw pic’s [sic] of 3 men I once slept w and I’m only on pg 85. Oy.”
I know what she means. I feel the same way when I flip through a Victoria’s Secret catalog. You won’t believe how awkward it is when I hit up the Victoria’s Secret lingerie parties. Bar Refaeli’s always like, “How’d you get in here.” And I roll my eyes and I’m all, “Oh, man. Here we go again. I slipped through security, alright. Please don’t tell anyone.”
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WireImage
Oy fo shizzle, the pairing of Fran Drescher and Snopp Dogg has caption me written all over it, so go ahead and do it.
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| | Fran Drescher to run for office | | Added 15 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Fran Drescher is intending to enter politics, or at least that?s how it seems. While we mostly remember her as the whiny voiced nanny, she?s actually been working fairly tirelessly for new cancer legislation (which she was successful in getting passed by congress) for several years now, following her own bout of uterine cancer in 2000.
?I?ve just been given the appointment of U.S. diplomat,? she said at a party for Le Cirque: A Table in Heaven at that restaurant on December 3. ?My title is public diplomacy envoy for women?s health issues, and I just got back from a four-country European tour of duty. I believe next I?ll be sent to the Middle East.?
Also an anti-cancer activist, Drescher has been considering a run for office. ?I?ve been very successful in getting a bill passed in Washington,? she said. ?I was thinking I?d take the next four years to lay some groundwork, but I?m throwing my hat in the ring.? What else makes her a good candidate? ?I?m an authentic and honest person,? she said. ?And I think Capitol Hill needs more of that.?
New York magazine
Go for it, I say! If Arnold Swartzenegger can be governor of California, why can’t Fran Drescher enter politics?
The international trip she is referring to is to Hungary, Kosovo and Romania, which she writes about articulately on her blog on her Cancer Schmancer website.
The bills she has campaigned for include provisions for a gynecological cancer awareness campaign, funding for cancer research, better health coverage for breast cancer patients, and cancer education and screening programs.
Given that most of us know someone who has suffered from cancer, I think that Fran could find this a hugely successful platform to enter politics. Unlike Sarah Palin she’s already got the clothes - how fabulous does this woman look for 51?
Fran Drescher is shown at a Le Cirque event in NY on 12/3/08. Credit: PRPhotos
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