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<\/p>\nJane Lynch on her new show & how Trump backlash will help us \u201ctake a huge leap forward\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n
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Few actors delight like Jane Lynch<\/a>. She has long amused audiences with her work in films like Best in Show<\/em> and For Your Consideration<\/em>. She\u2019s also won three Emmys, two of which for her acclaimed performance as battle-axe gym teacher Sue Sylvester on the musical sit-com, Glee<\/em>. This month, she embarks on her latest project, executive producing and starring in the new sit-com Dropping the Soap.<\/em>\u00a0The story of the behind-the-scenes (and on-camera<\/a>) drama of long-running soap opera, Ms. Lynch plays hard-broiled producer Olivia Vanderstien, tasked with making the show a ratings winner. Dropping the Soap<\/em>\u00a0debuts\u00a0March 7.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Queerty chatted\u00a0with Jane about\u00a0her new series, the legacy of Glee<\/em><\/a>, and the current political climate.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n What was the inception of this, and why do a sitcom about a soap opera?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Oh yeah. Well the whole creative team\u2013Paul [Witten] and Mandy [Fabian] and Kate [Mines]\u2013the three of them kind of came together with the idea. They thought it was funny. All three of them watch soap operas, and it\u2019s very much a dying art. Like, I grew up too watching All My Children, General Hospital.<\/em>\u00a0We loved them, but now they\u2019ve become\u2026it\u2019s hard to keep them on the air. They\u2019re like cancelling them left and right. So you have all these actors who\u2019ve been on the shows since they were like young ing\u00e9nues, and now they\u2019re like the older people who are dying their hair. They have nothing else; no other marketable skills. So it\u2019s basically about this soap opera circling the drain. And then Paul and I, we met about seven years ago at a beauty supply store.\n<\/p>\n Oh wow<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I was looking at some conditioner, and he walked up to me and he said something like \u201cthat\u2019s a good conditioner.\u201d And we started talking and we became best friends. So he had already shot the first incarnation\u2014he and Mandy and Kate had shot it\u2014and then I asked if I could come on board. We decided we would sort of redo it and add some other people, and that\u2019s the series you see.\n<\/p>\n It looks like you had fun making it<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n We did it on the cheap, but I don\u2019t think it looks like it. We shot everything so fast. We shot it all in about two weeks, all ten episodes. And I love working that way too, where you just move from location to location. We stayed in one soundstage the whole time. But, you do it fast, furious and funny. And nobody\u2019s getting rich doing this. You do it for fun, and almost<\/em> free.\n<\/p>\n How much of it are you improvising?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I\u00a0don\u2019t think I did at all. The writing, I felt, is just so tight and so funny. Mandy\u2019s the writer, and she really knows all of our voices.\n<\/p>\n So I guess the next logical question would be why go to the web with it?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n We did it all ourselves. We did the rounds of trying to get someone to make it with us, and it didn\u2019t happen. So we just got some money\u2014not a bunch, but enough\u2014and we just did it ourselves.\n<\/p>\n So you\u2019ve been part of many films and shows over the years, including a special show called Glee<\/em>. Do you think it made it easier to grow up gay<\/a>?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I do, yeah. I mean, we didn\u2019t have anything like that when we were growing up. Can you imagine if we had a show on network television<\/em> that had a character like Chris Colfer\u2019s character or Darren Criss\u2019<\/a> character? And I think kids\u2014not even gay<\/a> kids, just kids in general\u2014were able to identify with at least a couple<\/a> of the characters on the show and say, Hey, that\u2019s me.<\/em> And I think a lot of kids who aren\u2019t gay<\/a> identified with Chris\u2014you know, he\u2019s a big, bestselling author right now.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And he has fans that run the gamut of different kinds of kids. Not just gay<\/a> kids, all kids of kids, because he was one of those unique, special, said what he thought, stood up for himself, and didn\u2019t let anyone tell him there was something wrong with him. Kids just jumped on board. And then you have my character (Sue Sylvester) of course, who just is the person that told them what was wrong with them. And at the same time, was kind of the protector. And I think that was, kind of, the ideal place to be. McKinley High. The world of McKinley High, the hallway, was kind of like the real world. Kind of mean, racist, homophobic. And then you get into the choir room, and everybody has each other\u2019s back. It\u2019s a kind of utopia.\n<\/p>\n I was a choir kid too. I know when I sit down and watch Glee,\u00a0<\/em>it brings back a lot of memories. I want to ask about [Glee\u00a0<\/em>Creator]\u00a0Ryan Murphy<\/a>. On Queerty<\/em>, we recently asked why Oscar so not gay<\/a>. There has only ever been one out-gay<\/a> actor that has won an Academy Award.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n You\u2019re kidding me.\n<\/p>\n Seriously.\u00a0Linda Hunt<\/a>, god bless her.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n You\u2019re kidding. There\u2019s only been one out-gay<\/a> actor to win an Academy Award? I\u2019m shocked.\n<\/p>\n They have been nominated\u2014Lily Tomlin, Ian McKellen\u2014and obviously there have been gay<\/a> actors who have won, but they were in the closet at the time. I bring up Ryan because one thing I think he\u2019s really great about is including openly\u00a0performers in his work.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Absolutely, yeah.\n<\/p>\n As far as I know, you\u2019ve been out your entire career. It seems like out actors seem to have it a little bit easier on television than they do working in film.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I think so.\n<\/p>\n What\u2019s you\u2019re experience?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know. I mean, I\u2019ve not experienced it being hard for me. I really haven\u2019t. I\u2019m really lucky to be where I am in time, which is post-Melissa Etheridge<\/a>, post-Ellen DeGeneres, k.d. Lang coming out. So they kind of did the heavy lifting on that. I\u2019ve not experienced that in film or on television. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s easier one way or the other. I will say that I think it might be a little easier for a gay<\/a> woman<\/a> to be accepted in a straight role than a gay<\/a> man<\/a>. I think it\u2019s still a little hard for a gay<\/a> man<\/a> to be\u2014I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to be accepted as easily as a woman<\/a>. Although, I think it\u2019s changing. Look at Matt Bomer<\/a>. He plays a straight guy<\/a> a lot, so I think that\u2019s changing too.\n<\/p>\n Why is it easier to accept in a woman<\/a> than it is in a man<\/a>?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s just about homophobia around men<\/a>. I think it\u2019s a bigger deal for them. Its ok that women<\/a>\u2013I think it\u2019s a little bit easier to digest. (laughs) But I think it\u2019s straight men<\/a> that have the hardest time with that.\n<\/p>\n Well, that may be true, but I hope it\u2019s changing. I think it is\u2026<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I think it is too. It\u2019s only a matter of time.\n<\/p>\n I know you\u2019ve been active on Twitter yourself. What would you do to respond to Trump? How do we counter?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think we counter it. You know what? I look at my Twitter feed. I go through phases where I\u2019m retweeting things. Just yesterday I watched a lot of news and did a lot of tweeting, but I don\u2019t think you fight it. I think it\u2019s all part of this energy. I think we\u2019re doing a little movement backward so we can take a huge leap forward. It does scare me, but I have to look at the big picture. Can I step outside? Can I stop watching the news and step outside of it and go, \u2018Ok, we\u2019ve stepped back a little bit, but we\u2019re getting ready for the big jump forward.\u2019 I hope he doesn\u2019t last for four years. I have a feeling he will probably either resign and blame it on us, and that\u2019s fine with me. I think that\u2019s kind of the best the best scenario for it.\n<\/p>\n Is there a\u00a0season two of Dropping the Soap<\/em>?<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n Oh yeah, we\u2019d love that. I know there is a really good outline of where we can go in the second season. But yeah\u2026it\u2019s really fun, it\u2019s really fast. It\u2019s a really well-made comedy with terrific actors. It has some really great people in it. So yeah, we would love to keep doing it.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Dropping the Soap<\/em><\/strong> debuts on Dekkoo March 7. Dekkoo is available via iTunes, Google Play, AppleTV and Roku and now via the new\u00a0Amazon Dekkoo Channel.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \nwww.queerty.com\/jane-lynch-queerty-interview-new-series-trump-hollywood-living-20170307?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jane Lynch on her new show & how Trump backlash will help us \u201ctake a huge leap forward\u201d Few actors delight like Jane Lynch. She has long amused audiences with her work in films like Best in Show and For Your Consideration. She\u2019s also won three Emmys, two of which for her acclaimed performance as … Continue reading Jane Lynch on her new show & how Trump backlash will help us \u201ctake a huge leap forward\u201d<\/span> \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/queerty-prodweb.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp\/docs\/2015\/10\/glee-jane-lynch_612x380_0.jpg\")
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