Jan. 30, 2007

There may be a larger cult of Parker Posey fans than Hollywood executives are aware of, but her popularity with fans doesn't mean the indie queen gets to pick and choose from among many roles. Take for instance her new acclaimed drama, "Broken English," which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

"I don't go, 'Oh, I'll do this one next,'" Posey says. "I was attached to this script three years ago and it got financing. And it happened four months after 'Fay Grim' and I worked on 'Boston Legal' and got some paying jobs, so, y'know, [I could afford to take it]."

The 38-year-old actress earned a reputation for dominating the Sundance Festival in the '90s, but she hasn't been back to Park City, Utah, since 2002, when she was part of the Grand Jury-winning drama "Personal Velocity: Three Portraits." Posey is pleased to be back at the festival with two truly independent flicks: "Broken English" and "Fay Grim."

"I'm here this year with two digital movies, and both of them were a million dollars to make. For me, that's really cool, because 10 or 12 years ago I was doing that in film," Posey says. "So, having seen the studios co-opt the independent films, to come back with two movies is really great."

Of her two films, "English" is attracting the most buzz, mostly because Posey delivers one of the best performances of her career. She portrays a mid-30s New Yorker that can't seem to deal with dating anymore, let alone with opening herself up to love. Director Zoe Cassavetes' film shows a realistic side to modern romance that is far from the clichéd shenanigans of "Sex and the City."

"To see women in the East Village walking in threes and carrying champagne," Posey says rolling her eyes. "They have really stepped out of the television set and come into my neighborhood. So, I'm really happy to be able to show my friends and other people I know something they will recognize in themselves."

She's also thrilled that men have told her they can also see themselves in her character.

"It's such a movie about loneliness -- just the normal kind of feelings of being alone. You don't see that much in movies," Posey says. "But this is a portrait of someone who has got to drink, got to smoke and the sense of loneliness and the fear of that. I was kind of amazed; to exaggerate something so scary wasn't that easy. I don't know what that says about me."

All actor neurosis aside, it says Posey is pretty damn talented and clearly at the top of her game.

"Broken English" opens in limited release this year.