TV icon Kelsey Grammer spoke to Page Six Hollywood about his new project, "Young Washington." M10s/TheNews2/INSTARimages “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer thinks today’s pols could learn a thing or two from OG founding father George Washington.
Speaking to Page Six Hollywood about his upcoming Angel Studios’ film, “Young Washington” — in which the “Cheers” alum plays aristocrat Thomas Fairfax — Grammer told us: “George Washington was not particularly tolerant of fools. He stood up against stuff that he thought was whimsical, or not particularly focused on what really saves the people. I don’t think he was a fan of big government. I think he was a fan of small government.”
He added of the one-dollar-bill icon: “He was humble enough to say, ‘I am not perfect, but I am not going to quit.’ That’s what I’d like to see in Washington, [DC], honestly.”
The 25th Tribeca Festival’s ‘Young Washington’ premiere at SVA Theater. M10s/TheNews2/INSTARimages Grammer should know: He played Washington himself in the 2003 movie, “Benedict Arnold: A Question of Honor,” with Aidan Quinn as treacherous Arnold, and he also previously hosted the Washington docuseries “George: Rise of a Revolutionary” in 2024. If that doesn’t make him enough of an expert, his series “Kelsey Grammer’s Historic Battles for America,” focused in part on how Washington rallied his troops in the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776.
Grammer has also long been vocal about his conservative views in Hollywood, most recently endorsing Spencer Pratt for LA mayor and calling Donald Trump last year, “Maybe the greatest” president in American history.
The film by director, co-writer and producer Jon Erwin premiered at the Tribeca Festival on Saturday and hits theaters July 3. It also stars Ben Kingsley, Andy Serkis, Mary Louise Parker and William Franklyn-Miller as Washington.
Since the trailer was first released, Angel Studios has boldly asked fans to, “Help us make this the No. 1 movie in America on its 250th.” And while the film will go head to head with Universal and Illumination’s bound-to-be-massive “Minions and Monsters,” the indie studio has had notched some upsets at the box office before. Its human trafficking drama, “The Sound of Freedom,” captured the top spot on the Fourth of July in 2023, beating out “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
Angel’s site indicates that “Young Washington” has already sold more than 146,000 tickets.
“I’m grateful that it’s getting such early traction, which is amazing, and I hope that we can all celebrate America together in theaters,” Erwin told us. “Look, the country’s not perfect, but boy is it worth celebrating.”
Grammer put it more bluntly: “George Washington: box office idol!” he mused.
