PARK CITY, Utah -- The voice on my cell phone is instantly recognizable.
It's older and coarse from too many interviews over too little time, but it retains the quality referred to in one online biography as "sex kitten on helium."
"It's Joey Lauren Adams," she says.
Adams, who skirted with fame in the 1990s thanks to such iconic slacker fare as Dazed and Confused and Chasing Amy, is calling to firm up a time for our interview somewhere in her hectic schedule.
That her calendar is double-and-triple-booked with high-profile interviews and photo shoots is understandably good news for Adams who, after dropping off the pop culture radar, is in demand again thanks to her directorial debut, Come Early Morning.
The small-town drama, in which Ashley Judd stars as a woman trying to achieve a sense of esteem and self-determination, is one of the rarified few to be entered into competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Of 1,700 entries, only 16 films were accepted.
Later that day in a bar on Main Street, Adams says she tackled writing and directing a movie because she'd grown dismayed and frustrated by the Hollywood machine.
"For women in their 30s, it's so hard to get good parts," says Adams, who is 35 -- ancient by Tinseltown standards. "If the guy in the movie is 30, they're going to take a 20-year-old to play opposite him."
So six years ago, Adams, who had never dabbled in writing before, decided to follow what every writer doling out advice says: "Write what you know."
For her, that meant a return to her roots in Arkansas, where she grew up before moving to L.A. When she was living there "I hated it," she says. "I thought everyone was just a bunch of hillbilly idiots. But I think you have to do that -- and tell yourself that -- because you're leaving everything you know and all your comfort. But as time went on, I started to appreciate it on a different level. I appreciate the culture a lot more now than I had."
Originally -- much like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon with Good Will Hunting -- Adams intended to star in the film as well. "It's an evolution. I wrote it wanting to act."
She eventually realized she would have to choose between acting in it or directing it.
"It hit me how much work (directing) would be."
Determined to make the film the way she wanted, she surrendered her on-screen aspirations and devoted her energies to getting the production off the ground.
After five years, it suddenly came together in 2005 when, at last year's Sundance festival, Adams' producer managed to slip Judd's agent the script. Judd immediately signed on and cameras rolled in May.
With the movie now finished, Adams says she has no follow-up project planned, although she has been reading scripts again -- not as an actress, but as a director.
And she's understandably amused by what she hears now from industry players.
The standard line?
" 'We always loved you,' " she says with a broad smile.
Adams says she fully expects to step behind the camera again -- as well as pursuing acting gigs that interest her.
"Now I know I have options. I can go and write or I can go and act."
More Artists
