Parker Posey Says She Nearly Quit Acting, Will Return For Woody Allen’s Next Movie

Irrational ManIt’s almost unthinkable that more than twenty years after she broke out (in, of course, “Dazed & Confused”), it’s taken until this week’s “Irrational Man” for Parker Posey to work with Woody Allen. The acerbic, hilarious actress was a figurehead of Allen-indebted independent film in the 1990s, but somehow seemingly never came to Allen’s attention. And what’s worse is that it nearly didn’t come to pass at all. 

READ MORE: Review: Woody Allen’s Slapdash And Charmless ‘Irrational Man’ Starring Emma Stone And Joaquin Phoenix

According to a profile of Posey on the Daily Beast, the actress cried when she discovered that she got the part in the film (after meeting the director for three-and-a-half minutes) because she was close to quitting the industry and turning her home into a wedding venue to make money instead. “I saw the independent film movement go away from me,” she told the site. “How movies are financed, it’s a world market now…. I feel like, you know, the independent film way of working is something that was in my bones. It’s like being a part of a punk band but no one’s singing punk rock anymore. Only a few bands are able to play, and Woody Allen is one of them. That’s why I cried. It was a relief.” 

Forming one part of a love triangle with Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone is undoubtedly a boost to Posey’s profile (especially as, per our review, she’s the best thing about the film), and there’s further good news on the way: the star clearly made an impression on Allen, as Deadline says that she’s one of the relatively few actors to make two Allen movies (and rarer still to do two in a row), joining the cast of his untitled 2016 project with Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg (another two-timer), and Bruce Willis. You can see the results of their first collaboration, "Irrational Man," in theaters from this weekend. 

Bonus: Listen to The Close-Up talk with Pose from the Film Society Of Lincoln Center.