Can't you just start with frozen fries and deep fry them frozen for a quick semblance of the fries?

If a "semblance" of a recipe is good enough for you, go for it

I suppose you could. Not sure you'd get the same roughed up edges on the fries. Also, I'm not sure if frozen fries have already been fried once -- if so, I guess a single frying would work. If not, I'd double fry them as in the recipe.