She was dethroned from her ZBZ presidency last season and disappeared for some time. But Greek's Frannie, perhaps Casey's biggest nemesis, returned all shiny and nice last Spring. Should we trust her? I mean, she does already have her claws in Casey's old boyfriend. Tiffany Dupont, the actress who plays her, weighs in...

So, Frannie is back in action. When I spoke to Scott Foster and Spencer Grammer last March, right before the show returned, they told me you wouldn't be around for awhile.
Yeah, well she was hiding a bit after her fall, shall we say. And I think the idea was to build up [the mystery]. Where is Frannie? What happened to her? Is she coming back or not? So hopefully that played well when she did return in the fourth episode. I think it was a bit of a surprise.

Definitely. Did you know all along that you would be back?
Yes. They were so sweet. They told me after we wrapped the first ten [episodes]. We had a wrap party and Sean Smith, our creator/producer, came and said, okay, Frannie is going to disappear for a couple of episodes and then it's going to be knock, knock, knock, who's that? So it was actually very cool to know way in advance. I had the reassurance that they were bringing me in and they made me a series regular which was so great. I'm officially a part of the team, finally!

And Frannie's changed so much as of late. Although I think she still has that edge to her. And now that she's with Evan...
With Evan, yeah. It's hard to play, to be completely honest, because when she's in what I like to call "Frannie-mode" -- her little bitchy whatever -- it's easy because I know how to do it, I know what they want. But now, she's sort of walking that fine line of being sweet and being up to something, and I'm not sure what to do with her. I actually just watched a few of the episodes and I was like, I don't know if I like that. What can I do with her to make it a little more clear? But I think the point is that we are unclear about what she's doing. Half the time, she's up to something and, half the time, she really does care about Casey and wants everything to be the way it was before we saw the flashback episode, before she broke Evan and Casey up. So it's tough. It's tough to play and I understand if the audience is confused about Frannie because I'm right there with them.

I think her true colors show a bit in tomorrow's season premiere.
Yeah, I think we'll see in this episode that she genuinely cares about Casey and is sorry, but she cares about Evan, too. She has feelings for him. I think they're real. It's not just a game. And so what do you do? You know, is Casey wrong to not support Frannie, because hey, she gave Evan up? Or is Frannie wrong to pick a guy over the friendship with Casey? What's right or wrong depends on where you're standing, I think. Very interesting.

Were you surprised when you saw that Frannie and Evan were going to be together?
They kind of told us beforehand, so no I wasn't. You know, I think they're pretty equal counterparts on the show. I know Jake [McDorman] often will say that he wishes Evan were a nicer guy. He feels like he looks like such a jerk all the time.

That's a good point.
I don't really think Evan's a jerk. I think he's just caught up in the circumstances of his life, being from money and having this image that comes from that. He's juggling it the best he can. The kid's in college for crying out loud. He's not going to know how to handle everything and I think he has good intentions even if he goes about it the wrong way. For example, buying off Shane -- the kid who liked Casey -- wasn't the best way to [express his affection], but he had his heart in the right place. And then Frannie watches these series of events unfold and uses it to her advantage to get something she cares about, which happens to be Evan Chambers.

Sean Smith was telling me there might be something else that Frannie wants, there are going to be elections?
Yeah, of course she's going to want to get the presidency back. Nothing is more important than Zeta Beta Zeta. Not even Evan. Nothing matters more to her than having her girls back and being in control. She did breed these girls to become who they are now. To her, it's everything she's invested in, and that's actually very cool if you think about it -- that she does care so much about the sorority and her sisters. I remember being in college and there were girls who really were all about their sorority and that's very cool to be that passionate about something. Again, depending on where you're standing, she's either totally right or she totally sucks. You know, which one is it?

Were you in a sorority at college?
Absolutely not. [Laughs] No, actually it was really sweet, the AOPis -- they're kind of like the Zeta Beta Zeta's at the University of Georgia -- They're some of the smartest, nicest, most accomplished girls. They welcomed all different types, you didn't have to be gorgeous to get in -- and at the end of my freshman year, they approached me to join and I was so touched and flattered. I considered it for a moment, but [being in a sorority] just wasn't me, it's not my personality type at all, so I ended up declining. And I was double majoring anyway, so I was all over the place. I would have been a very bad sorority sister. I wouldn't have been at the meetings, I would have been late to chapter, it would have been awful. But I had a boyfriend that was in a fraternity, so I got to experience it without having to participate and pay for it. I got to go to date nights and weekends away and get to feel what it was like.

Best of both worlds.
It was cool, really fun. And I was like, what am I doing, dating a frat guy? But he was so sweet and there were a lot of good guys in his fraternity. It was awesome. I wouldn't change it for the world, having that experience.

Do you think Greek is a good representation of real college life?
Yeah, I was about to say that. I really like some of these episodes coming up. I lived in the dorms my first two years and to show the RA relationship and the roommates is so cool, you know? Some of the lines make me laugh so hard, because they're so true and you can relate, and that's awesome.

Comments

Can't wait for the premiere. I think it's almost common knowledge that you're not supposed to hook up with your friend's ex. Especially if you never even discussed it with said BFF to give her a head's up. So Casey has every right to be pissed at Frannie. I like Evan and Frannie together though, I guess. We'll see...

Kait | Aug 25, 2008 1:38:19 PM | #

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I guess Frannie isn't familiar with the Bro Code

korbi_ghosh | Aug 25, 2008 2:17:02 PM | #

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Frannie isn't a fan of How I Met Your Mother?

P | Aug 25, 2008 2:17:28 PM | #

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LOLOL! Jinx Korbi

P | Aug 25, 2008 2:17:59 PM | #

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