The Return of Jezebel James

A new article in the Los Angeles Times starts by talking to Parker Posey about how unpretentious she is on the set. Parker helps out, getting things done that you’d think would be below her, like getting coffee for the director, or hunting down actors and actresses to fill in for needed parts.

I like getting involved. ’I’ll take care of it.’ It comes from independent film, I got used to it — there’s tape on the floor, pick it up. It’s just an awareness you have, like peripheral vision when you’re rollerblading in traffic. It comes from being on a lot of sets.

The interview goes into Broken English and some of her other films, and how Hollywood is different from doing independent films. And it also mentions The Return of Jezebel James:

“I’ve had TV deals,” Posey recalled. “I had a holding deal. I had a ’Parker Posey Pilot’ once, and they said, ’We like the pilot, we just don’t want to do it with Parker.’”

According to [Amy] Sherman-Palladino, it was Posey’s unexpected range which made her want the actress for the part [of Sarah Thomkins]. “To me the thing I was excited about is there’s this sort of untapped — not that Parker hasn’t tapped it, but I think America hasn’t tapped into the fact that Parker is truly an actress, not just this sort of bouncy, loopy, indie comedienne. This girl’s got deep, deep, deep, skills.”

Not surprisingly, Posey initially avoids discussing her own acting technique, her process, as they say, by noting dryly, “It’s all hair and shoes.” …

“I equate Parker with Katharine Hepburn,” says Sherman-Palladino. “She was a woman who really cut her own way through the industry and sort of forced the industry to come around to who she was and appreciate that. I think to us, Parker is the new Kate Hepburn in that there’s always something really interesting going on there.”

I’m just beginning to get acquainted with Parker’s work. But even though I’m still a Parker Posey newbie, Amy’s admiring words ring true. I’m looking forward to watching more of Parker’s films.

-TimK