Parker Posey is Lex Luthor’s villainous henchwoman in Superman Returns and she chatted with Superhero Hype! about the role:
Q: Did you have that dog in the movie because you’d already had one in a previous vampire movie?
Parker Posey: Omigod I forgot about that. The dog came about sort of naturally. We were shooting in the Vanderworth mansion and we’d had a long day. And I said, ‘I want that dog in every shot.’ Look is so important to movies like this and parts like this that waiting with the dog and the glasses, so yeah. The shu was great. Her dog trainer Lindy was amazing. And she trained cats before she trained dogs. She had a parrot and a cockatoo named Marcello. Yeah, Lindy was amazing. By the end of it, her hair matched the color of the dog. (Laughs.) They were very attached. Kitty and Molly. We had a special relationship.
Q: Were you familiar with the Superman story?
Posey: I’d never heard of it no. (Laughs.) So, it was like. I had to watch the movies over a weekend. Yeah…
Q: Through the movies or the TV shows?
Posey: Through the movie. I saw the movie when it came out.
Q: How old were you?
Posey: I don’t know (whispered). (Laughs.)
Q: How rude!
Posey: How rude! I’m 37. And I must have been about nine or 10. Seven, eight, nine, 10, I dunno. Yeah, I mean I love the movie I saw a cut of it a month ago when I was here doing ‘Boston Legal’ and it was so warm and romantic and it had such a nice peaceful message. Which I didn’t…I mean when I read the script I was so glad it had these elements to it. It dealt with issues of feeling left…orphaned or as far as being different. And it’s this great love story. Lois has a husband who watches her in love with another man, Superman, who brings her to the hospital. I mean there’s a lot of…I mean, I only saw it once, but there are a lot of things in this movie that I really like that really turn Kitty into this totally flushed out, full on character-woman in a comic book world. I just see her in love with Lex and waiting for him to be that man she thinks that he is. And he’s not and he will never be. And it takes somebody to turn to destroy the world that she finally wakes up to that little fact.
Q: Does Kevin’s type of outrageousness make you hold things back?
Posey: The balance yeah. He was cool like that. He’s just in character. He was just like Lex in this world. You know, you’re tiny and the set is huge. You’re just like the ratio to you and the world that you are in is very…y’know…so, that was a real adjustment to find out how to fit into this big majestic environment going to set on Kryptonite which was all black. You’re waiting around and it kind of smells like rubber. Different things feed into it. He’s a great actor, so I never thought that it wasn’t Lex. And I didn’t ever feel that it wasn’t Kitty. That’s really the thing you should want, that should be happening.
Q: Was it a relief after going through a movie like this to move on to “For Your Consideration”?
Posey: God, every …it’s about the part. This is kind of a heavy part. But, in a way, my part in ‘For Your Consideration’ is sort of heavy as well. You know, you dream big and you have high expectations and you get very disappointed. This is like an Academy Award attention. It’s not even like..y’know…on the Internet. It’s so inflated. ‘What am I gonna wear????’ (Laughs.) Like, ‘Whoa.” So, yeah.
Q: Is that type of format very easy to work in and play off each other?
Posey: You’re just very in and trying to be in your world. You’re just trying to protect yourself in a space, but with those movies you don’t know what the other person is going to bring to it. I was talking to Catherine (O’Hara) about it and I have all of these things that I’m kind of meditating on. And I got to set and my character changed. And she goes, ‘Oh, yah, yah. It happened with me – Mitch and Mindy. Yah.’ I dunno if it’s a female thing or what, but it does change as it’s happening. But, that happens in movies. That happens in movies.
Q: What else are you working on?
Posey: I just wrapped a movie yesterday morning. It’s called “Broken English,” Zoe Cassavettes movie, her first movie. So, yeah I wrapped up.
Q: How did they get you to do “Boston Legal”?
Posey: David Kelly had been asking for my availability for a while and I’d never been available. I was here doing – for a movie called “Adam and Steve” that my friend, Craig Chester, wrote and directed. So, David Kelly has a part for you in ‘Boston…’ English I was about to say. (Laughs.) I met him, the writer came in, the director came in, and we started talking about it and I was like, ‘That sounds great. Let me see the show.’ I’d never seen the show and I watched it and then that happened. But, that’s kind of how my career has worked out. Very immediate or y’know. It’s not like, ‘Let me think about this. This makes sense right now.’ Sometimes I can read something and it could be in another language. It could be the greatest movie ever, but it’s just not speaking to me at a particular time.
Q: How did you get this part in “Superman Returns”?
Posey: I was doing “Hurlyburly” in New York for about six months. There was talk. There is a lot of talking involved in how you get cast. A lot of conversations. I just imagine them spiraling going, around, ‘So, what do you think of so and so? And we need to see these people?’ It goes on for months. ‘Oh, they are talking about you. They are really interested.’ ‘Well, we’ll see what happens and I would like to read it.’ ‘Uh, no, you can’t read the script.’ ‘Well, I don’t have time to read it anyway, I’m doing a play. Good for me.’ Then they offered it to me and I said, ‘Can I read it?’ And they said, ‘You have to say yes before you can read it.’ And I was like, ‘OK, I really don’t have room to say no.’ (Laughs.) So, yeah. They flew someone in to bring the script to me and I read it in a café.
Q: Where they standing right there?
Posey: Oh yeah, with briefcases. (Laughs.) Glasses like “Men in Black.” Robots moving around. So yeah, already – world!
Superman Returns flies into theaters on Wednesday, June 28th.
Source: Heather Newgen
