Parker Posey needed to prove herself all over again when making the jump from indie films to Hollywood productions.
During a recent appearance on the “Smartless” podcast, Posey, who started her career in celebrated independent films like “Party Girl, “Dazed and Confused” and “Basquiat,” was asked if she still considers herself the “indie queen.” Posey answered that once she began being recognized in places “as cool as New York City,” she knew her indie cred was dwindling.
“I felt like I was called a name, in a way,” Posey said. “My path was more like, ‘Oh, [‘The Daytrippers’ director] Greg Mottola did a reading of his movie that he was trying to get financed,’ and then I introduced him to Liev Schreiber who was in ‘Party Girl,’ and then we do ‘The Daytrippers’ a year later. It was such a community back then.”
“I felt like right when I got exposed, and the whole indie movement got exposed, it also got co-opted by the studio system, and then it became this other thing,” she added. “All of a sudden, I wasn’t viable to get a movie financed, and it was such a head trip because I would have to audition for Hollywood movies when I’d carried the lead in independent movies that were shot in 23 days.”
Posey said that in the Hollywood system, she was “gaslit” into thinking she wasn’t on pace with the talent required to star in a major studio production.
“[I would say], ‘I can promise I can memorize these lines in the script, and we’ll have a blast, trust me!’” she explained. “So I had, like, a good 20 years of that after, and then working with great auteurs and doing [films], not getting paid a lot, but being able to work and fulfill my creativity.”
Posey certainly has worked with some of the industry’s most coveted directors. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with Richard Linklater, Gregg Araki, Christopher Guest, Kogonada and Ari Aster.
Posey is set to appear in Variety‘s 22nd season of “Actors on Actors.” In her episode, “The White Lotus” star is paired with Lisa Kudrow.