If you’ve watched the 1995 movie Party Girl, you know how to order a falafel. “Can I have a falafel with hot sauce, a side order of baba ghanoush, and a seltzer, please?” asks Parker Posey’s character, Mary, countless times in the 1995 film—now so beloved that fans quote it to one another. (Other classics? “Hey hey hello,” said by Posey to twins in silver puffers, and “imitate a cat puking,” an instruction given to aspiring DJ Leo, a young Guillermo Díaz, by club promoter Renée, played by Donna Mitchell.)
In telling the story of Mary’s transformation from nightlife denizen to librarian fluent in the Dewey Decimal System, Party Girl doesn’t prioritize plot. Its charm lies in standout performances from Posey, Díaz, and Liev Schreiber—sporting an inexplicable British accent—as well as cameos from clubland legends like Lady Bunny. But above all, it’s the fashion: a covetable whirlwind of pieces by Todd Oldham, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Vivienne Westwood, items dyed in the kitchen sink, and loans from stylish friends like Hamish Bowles.
On the eve of its 30th anniversary—and in the midst of the Poseyassance kicked off by last season of White Lotus—we spoke with director Daisy Mayer, casting director Caroline Sinclair, assistant costume designer Vicki Farrell, club legend Lady Bunny, and actor Díaz about how Party Girl became a cult classic to remember.
PARTY BABY: HOW THE FILM CAME TO BE
Daisy Mayer: Harry [Brickmayer, the writer] and I were college best friends—he studied film, I studied theatre. We started writing it just for fun and poured our hearts into it. We rewrote that script for years.
Vicki Farrell: Michael [Clancy, the costume designer, who died in 2022] and I met in high school in Toronto. We both moved to New York—I thought I’d go into fashion. Then Michael said, “Hey, want to assist me on this film, Party Girl?” I quit my job.
Caroline Sinclair: I had done two other films, but I barely knew anything about casting. I don’t know why I got this job—maybe Mayer liked me because I was going out a lot at the time. I identified with the characters.
Guillermo Díaz: I auditioned four or five times. Toward the end, I got to read with Posey. I remember thinking, “Who is this wacky chick, and can I be her best friend?”
Mayer: We all had day jobs. I was waitressing and doing reception for extras casting at a soap opera. One of the best jokes came from there. My boss, a very sadistic woman, yelled from the other room, “Imitate a cat puking.” I did it because I was terrified. Then she walked in with a résumé and said, “No—an actor put that down as a special skill, Daisy.”
PARTY TIME: A $150,000 BUDGET, 16-HOUR DAYS, AND NEW JERSEY LIBRARIES
Mayer: Getting financing was janky. We had $150,000 to shoot on Super 16mm. Then we ran out of film. I had canisters of film in my Brooklyn apartment that could have died there. Thank God, a small Australian company called First Look added $350,000 so we could finish the film.
Farrell: I remember being 16 hours into a shoot thinking, “I need coffee,” but also, “I’m just going to crash under this library bench.” We shot in two libraries—one in Jersey City, which had great thrift stores.
Díaz: I lived in Washington Heights and commuted to Brooklyn. I’d wake up and think, “Oh my God, I’m shooting a movie in New York City.”
Sinclair: Mayer was fantastic—she knew exactly what she wanted. The set felt supportive. I once wore a summer dress and bent over, and an actor made an inappropriate comment. Mayer was furious. I think he was asked to leave.
PARTY LOOKS: OLDHAM OUTFITS, BOWLES LOANS, AND BRIGHT BLUE TIGHTS
Mayer: None of Mary’s fashion was in fashion in the early ’90s. No one was wearing hot pants or ’30s hairstyles at clubs. We wanted a retro vibe. If she had dressed like a character from My So-Called Life, it would feel dated now.
Farrell: Michael said, “I have to fit Mary first.” We set up a rack in his apartment and gathered clothes. Some were mine, some were from his roommate David Russell—they were both doormen at Area. That’s where the Gaultier corset sweater came from. Michael was friends with Bowles, who let us use items from his collection—pieces not pristine enough to auction but still incredible.
Lady Bunny: I dressed myself. The dress was thrifted—a late-’60s style I love. It’s white down the center with black on the sides, a slimming trick. The white acts like a highlight; the black recedes.
Mayer: People underestimate costume’s importance. Michael understood Posey psychologically—those were her actual shoes during the library dance scenes. New shoes would have felt inauthentic.
Díaz: We wore some of our own clothes. I wore my jeans and boots. I had dog tags made in Times Square with Leo’s name on them.
Farrell: I learned to dye clothes in Michael’s kitchen. We dyed gloves a beautiful blue, and that final party outfit too. The tights probably came from Sock Man on St. Mark’s. We could only afford one pair, so we had to be careful.
PARTY PEOPLE: CASTING PARKER POSEY, CLUB LEGENDS, AND LIBRARIANS
Sinclair: Parker Posey was already attached. Gwyneth Paltrow was approached but passed. I can’t imagine her in the role.
Mayer: I have storyboards of Mary as blonde—Christina Applegate was among the first we approached. I remember trying to get the script to her via Ad-Rock at a nightclub. Probably ended up in a dumpster. We wouldn’t be talking about the movie without Posey. It’s like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest—the actor’s chemistry is the core of the film.
Sinclair: We thought outside the box. Omar Townsend, who played Mustafa, never acted again. I met him through a belly dancer. His parents, diplomats, didn’t want him involved. It was Schreiber’s first role—fresh from Yale, playing an English character. Donna Mitchell had been a major model—on the cover of Vogue.
Mayer: We asked Nell [from the nightclub Nell’s] to play Renée, but she wanted to cut the obscenities. We said no. Harry got Debbie Harry onboard, but she backed out. Mitchell nailed it.
Lady Bunny: We knew about it because so many of us were involved. The It Twins were in it. Bill Coleman, who discovered Dee-Lite and managed Ultra Naté, was music supervisor.
Mayer: My mother, Sarah von Scherler, who played Mary’s godmother, was thrilled. It gave her some notoriety in her AIDS support community. She later became a social worker after retiring from acting.
Lady Bunny: In New York, especially then, it was all about me. You couldn’t do a film without me—not even with a tiny camera. No casting couch story. I didn’t have to fight RuPaul for the role.
PARTY SCENE: THE ’90S NIGHTLIFE INSPIRATION, FROM AREA TO THE TUNNEL
Mayer: My experience was part of the inspiration. My parents are gone now, so I can say this—it was based on my clubbing years in high school, 1984–88. Danceteria, Studio 54’s reincarnation. I wasn’t Mary, but I may have been her best friend.
Farrell: It might be Nirvana playing at the Pyramid, introduced by Lady Bunny. Or my friends and I dressing up for a performance—we called ourselves French Twist.
Lady Bunny: The downtown scene was buzzing, and the rest of the country noticed. The film captured the wildness and characters perfectly.
Mayer: We had legit nightclub connections. Michael worked the door at Area. Harry was in the gay scene—Paradise Garage, PA on Paris Is Burning.
Díaz: Once I booked the role, Posey and I started hanging out. She hosted Bad Movie Night—renting bad films, ordering Chinese, then going out. Mary wasn’t queer, but the film lived in that queer New York underground. It captured it authentically.
PARTY ON: FROM “HEY HEY HELLO” TO PUKING CATS AND THE WHITE LOTUS
Mayer: Party Girl has a timelessness other films lack—it still feels fresh.
Lady Bunny: There’s a longing for the club world that’s gone. We used to hit five or six places on a Tuesday. Now? Maybe five on a Saturday.
Díaz: Like Rocky Horror, it became a cult classic people still quote. That can mean more than an initial hit. People still care. It was unique.
Mayer: Hollywood should note—when you stop making films about the same boring characters and stories, magic happens. We’re still getting played.
Díaz: That “cat puking” scene with Renée? People still ask me to do it. I will. Someone told me the film validated them as a queer teen. That means everything.
Lady Bunny: There’s a renewed interest, and since Posey looks the same—and I do too—if she tires of The White Lotus, we’re ready for Party Girl 2. The world’s crying out for it.