28
Timemagazine dubbed her Queen of the Indies and Posey was living life to the fullest.
Parker Posey is into full-circle moments.
it’s possible for you to see the crazy quilt.
Poseys life as a scrappy star not that she considered herself famous in any capacity was all-consuming.
By the time I hit 30, I was like, Oh, theres still more?
Below, Posey talks impostor syndrome, swing dancing with famous friends, and why she likes getting older.
Take me back to 1997, when you were 28.
What was your life like?
I was doing a lot of traveling.
I would decompress in my little tiny apartment [in New York] and just crash.
Then I would talk on the phone.
Youd get scripts in the mail delivered; youd wear your pajamas outside.
I had the same apartment in Chelsea for 13 years.
I got it in 1992 from my teacher Liz from college and I just stayed there.
It was a rent-controlled railroad flat.
I lived above a place called The Beauty Shop next to a Peter McManus bar that is still there.
What was a night out like for you at 28?
I remember going toWigstockduring that time.
I think there was still dancing back then in New York Giuliani hadnt shut it all down.
I would go to a night called Beaver on Thursday nights at Don Hills.
They had this DJ named Frankie, and he would play 70s and 80s and 60s dance music.
I danced with Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz and people who were just funny dancers.
You could get picked up and twirled around!
Liev was a great swing dancer.
Waiting for Guffmancame out when you were 28, and it was your first Christopher Guest movie of many.
Do you remember how it felt to be improvising in that environment for the first time?
When I met Chris, we talked for half an hour, and we just liked each other.
[Improvising is] like you write a book that you carry around that no ones reading but you.
I was really nervous at first, but Chris made me feel so comfortable.
He said, We want Libby to audition for the play, and you better pick a song.
So I picked Teachers Pet from Doris Day.
At first, I wanted to sing a song by Journey.
It was not a good situation.
Thats why I listen to Doris Day Im being taken care of by an older woman.
Professionally, 28 was a prolific time for you Timemagazine even called you Queen of the Indies.
But what was one of your biggest difficulties or disappointments around that time?
But Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo had worked together, but I had auditioned for it and all that.
I had a lot of fear, I suffered a lot.
I was gravely disappointed.
I tried to control it, but I didnt know the Serenity Prayer.
What advice you would give your 28-year-old self?
Dont worry so much.
I can really blow things up and kind of abandon myself.
Its just a continual… You grow.
Keep up the therapy.
What would your 28-year-old self would think of you now?
I think she would like me.
I think we get older, but we always feel the same its just a deepening.
Its like your roots get deeper, and your branches spread out more.
We never lose our true nature, our mold; our issues are the same.
Theres no escaping, theres just awareness.
So its like, have awareness and have courage.
Truth is talked about more.
Do you think that, or am I just making it up?
I think we have more language to discuss things now, and its more normalized to do so.
Being different is so much more acceptable now.
Weve come a long way.
Did you feel different or not accepted at 28?
I started to isolate more.
I would tell them stories about my work and stuff like that.
Thats due to therapy.
Theres imposter syndrome I think I had that.
I think I still have that.
But I like getting older.
Im not going, Oh my god, if I could just be young again.
Ive always been kind of a little old lady.
I like to do crafts.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
This article was originally published onJune 9, 2022
