- "Queen of the Indies" Parker Posey is tackling a new role
- The actress portrays a powerful marketing executive in "Price Check"
- Posey says she passed on a role in "Girl Interrupted"
(CNN) -- For her long and impressive résumé of independent films like "Dazed and Confused," "Party Girl," and "Best in Show," Parker Posey is often referred to as the "Queen of the Indies."
Though much of her work in recent years has focused on memorable television roles, the Mississippi native returns to the big screen in Michael Walker's "Price Check." In the film, which debuts in select theaters on November 16 and is available for rental on iTunes. Posey plays "Susan," a powerful marketing executive overseeing a chain of grocery stores.
For fans who have grown to love Posey's trademark dry wit and pitch perfect edginess, Susan lands squarely in the wheelhouse. In her war to take over corporate America, Susan faces off with a man at every turn. Part genius, part sociopath, part seductress, Susan uses her full arsenal of God-given weapons -- from sexual manipulation to full blown tempter tandems -- to get what she wants.
During a recent conversation with CNN, Posey discussed her new role, explained her take on the public's misconceptions about working in Hollywood and confessed the whoops moment that just may have cost her Angelina Jolie's Oscar.
CNN: My first impression of you is that you're fearless. Are you fearless?
Parker Posey: You know, I don't really see myself that way. I've been doing this now professionally for 20 years. Isn't that wild? I think the perception is when you're famous you pick and choose your own material, but, honestly the material comes to me and I don't feel like I don't have much of a choice at all. So, when something is good, I end up doing it. But, I do like to show things that maybe most people wouldn't want to show of themselves, where people can judge you and you're not perfect. So, maybe that's where you're getting that kind of fearlessness.
CNN: The character you play in "Price Check" certainly falls in this category.
Posey: There are things about "Susan" that I think are very of this time right now. I've certainly seen women like this that are very entitled and powerful and manipulative and seductive.
CNN: She's a woman dominating a man's world but with what most would consider typically masculine traits.
Posey: Those characteristics excited me! I don't read parts like that that have those levels - someone who's powerful and also someone who's a loose canon. She has a really strong appetite, even more than these men that are around her and she's hungry for more! One of the first ideas or images I had for her was Faye Dunaway from "Network." Her female powers aren't female, they are totally male. And she doesn't have those things that make a woman powerful like vulnerability and sensitivity and intuition. She takes and she demands.
CNN: She even demands fun. I love the Halloween party scene when she keeps saying everyone is going to have fun, but clearly has no idea what fun is.
Posey: I didn't even think about that. That's so true. She's all about planned fun. It's not like that in other countries. Doesn't that seem like a very American thing to do?
CNN: I have heard that before, yes. We're a very type-A culture. But, you seem like a woman who knows how to have a good time. What brings you the most joy these days?
Posey: It's a really laid-back thing like cooking or having friends over and just talking. I like a one-on-one with a friend, really deep conversations.
CNN: Are you and your friends talking about the election at all?
Posey: Well, it's all kind of unsettling what we're seeing right now being played out. This drama! That it becomes entertainment, that it becomes a game. I can't really watch it, I just get too, there's so much that needs to be done, I get kind of down about politics. I don't have the stomach to usually watch it.
CNN: There's a lot of attention being paid to women's health.
Posey: Yeah, yeah, I think we're in the '50s. I think we're at very conservative times as women, as individuals. It's strange times.
CNN: I wonder what Susan's reaction would be to all the men talking about women's issues.
Posey: I think she'd be really mad. Then, she would run for president.
CNN: (laughter) Susan is just the latest of many roles you've made famous, but was there ever a part you passed on and then regretted later?
Posey: What I did pass on that may surprise you is "Girl Interrupted." The Angelina Jolie role. And she won the Academy Award! Isn't that funny?
CNN: Oh, I could definitely see you in that role. Why did you pass?
Posey: I just didn't care enough about it. I don't know. There was something about it. They probably wanted me to audition and I didn't feel like doing it, or maybe they wanted me to jump through hoops and I didn't feel like doing it. Honestly, I just didn't care about it enough to be grounded in it.
