''Hollywood doesn't really know what to do with me. I don't play the game. I can't,'' says Parker Posey, sitting in the window of a trendy boutique in New York City's East Village. It's the fourth and last location we visited with Posey on a recent Sunday afternoon that began in a photographer's studio, continued in a cross-town car ride, and paused briefly in her neighborhood coffee shop (which she quickly deemed too noisy for conversation). The occasion for our chat was the release of Broken English, the Sundance hit now in limited release in which Posey, 38, stars as a lonely single woman in New York. Next fall, the indie vet takes the lead in Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino's upcoming sitcom, The Return of Jezebel James, playing a children's book editor who, unable to have children, asks her sister (Lauren Ambrose) to carry her baby. In between snuggling her beloved Bichon poodle-Maltese, Gracie, free-associating about baking bread with Al Pacino, and bristling at the idea of type-casting, Posey talked about her 16-year career.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So Broken English debuted to really strong reviews at Sundance this year —
PARKER POSEY: Yeah, I don't read reviews, so...

Well, there was this common refrain that the movie showcased a softer side of you. What do you make of that? Do you feel that there's a certain idea of you as an actress and the kind of roles you take?
It's not the kind of roles that I take, it's the kind of roles that are offered to me. I don't have the choice to go, ''Oh, I love to be seen in a more vulnerable light.'' I've always had that side to me. But it's rare that I've been in love stories. When you do comedy, you end up being foils for things.

Do you feel like you got pigeonholed into a certain type?
Like I said, if you're funny, you do those funny [movies]. I think I'm more of an old-school actress than a movie star shaping a certain image. Actors today — this kind of shaping of your image and having a publicist arrange a certain thing to happen...I've always been too busy with my life to be conscious of how people perceive me. Because to a large extent, it's just gossip… [Very long pause] I think getting asked questions about yourself like this is not the most comfortable thing. It's a little uncomfortable.

I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable.
It's just not normal. I think I'm a character actor and I play characters. I play people who are different. I like that. I enjoy that. I'm glad [people are] like, ''Oh, I never knew that she was like this.'' But I think, how could you not? Underneath a certain personality is a lot of pain and sadness and humor... [Trails off]

Okay. Well, let's talk about Jezebel James. What made you want to do a network sitcom?
The writing is so good that it kind of felt like a '70s sitcom or All in the Family. It's got a very Norman Lear feel. It's not selling jokes. And [shooting the pilot] felt like a one-act play. It was in front of an audience, so there's that momentum. When I got this pilot I was in New Mexico shooting [October's] The Eye and I really liked it. I read it at the Laundromat in one sitting. It just flew off the page. Amy is a force, a talent.

And for an actor, TV allows a certain continuity —
You know, I've lost my phone maybe seven times in the last two months. I travel a lot. I'm never in one place, I'm like a rock-and-roller, just a rolling stone, having a different room and waking up and not knowing where I am. [I love] the idea that I can live and work in New York City and have stability. I did Boston Legal too, and I thought there was something so civilized about working with a crew that you saw every day.

[At this point, we've moved to the car, where Gracie jumps on my lap and starts aggressively gnawing my hair. It's awkward.]

Oh, ouch. I guess she likes my ponytail.
Oh, is she playing hair salon? She plays hair salon. So cute. [Leans over to the dog and dons a sweet, coddling voice] ''Yeah, you playin' hair salon, Gracie? Come on, littles!'' Doesn't that feel amazing? Oh, look at her little tail right there. She's so soft, too! Do you have a camera on you?

No, I lost my cell phone recently that had a camera. [The dog is still chewing on my hair]
You did? It’s happening a lot now. Like I said, I lost my phone seven times in the past two months. I just think, We don't want all this stuff anymore. We don't want computers and cell phones. It's so addictive and it's just like eeeeeechhhh.

[We eventually arrive at the cafe, where the barista warmly greets Posey and welcomes her back from her vacation in her country house.]

Looking back at the independent film movement of the '90s, when your career took off and you were dubbed the Queen of the Indies, how would you say you've changed since then?
I don't know. People have been saying ''Congratulations, you deserve it,'' for the TV show. ''It's so good to see someone who's worked so hard land a great job like that and to get the respect you deserve.'' So that's nice. I disassociate myself. It's a little crazy, but I can just shut the door on it and remove myself from feeling proud or good about success because in my book, it's ongoing. In my twenties, I was just so intense. I just had this intensity, like, ''Will I get another job?!'' I was born premature, I'm sure that has something to do with it, fighting for my life. I feel like I've worked a lot of it out. I've mellowed in that sense. It's a good thing about getting older.

You've been working since, what, '91?
Oh yeah, it's going on 15 years. I mean, it's work and play. Do you want to go to the clothing store next door? [We leave the café and move to the window display next door, where the saleswoman pretends not to be fazed]

Back then, you got your start on —
Soaps. [Posey starred on As the World Turns from 1991-1992.]

What do you remember from those years?
Being really cold. Yeah, it was like meat-packing cold. Teeth-chattering. I remember learning how to take a nap at work. That was a big deal. You just got up so early.

Do you have a dream project?
It might be fun to make a movie in my country house in the barn, like a very '70s experimental comedy. Home movies — like giving birth to Gracie in a barn, or improvising with people who come to visit and dressing them in prairie outfits. Making costumes and having my friends bake bread. It would just be ridiculous. All the actors that I'm really big fans of — like, you know, baking bread with Al Pacino. I have a sugar maple in my yard that I can still tap, [so] tapping the maple tree with Susan Sarandon. And Tim Robbins and family. Something really arty-farty and ridiculous like that. I think it's kind of cool. We'll call it Project Barn.

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