SAY ANYTHING BUT QUIRKY Thanks to brilliant performances in such diverse films as Say Anything, I Shot Andy Warhol and Pecker, Lili Taylor has long been the darling of independent film. Her recent turn on HBO's acclaimed Six Feet Under takes her career in yet another direction, and once again reveals her penchant for playing off-kilter characters. Bradford Shellhammer recently found that "karaoke singer" might be her most quir- ahem, interesting role yet.

You recently finished a film directed by John Syles with five other top actresses. The movie is called Casa de Los Babys and it's coming out in September. It's about six American women who go down to South America to adopt babies. The other actresses are Marica Gay Harden, Mary Steenburgen, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Susan Lynch and Darryl Hannah. I play a single woman who works for a publicher in New York. We filmed in Acapulco and the six of us were staying at, how should I say, not the greatest hotel. Mary decided to find us a villa. Finding a villa sounds more extravagant than it actually is. It was like looking for a share in Hamptons. So the six of us got to live in a villa together for nearly a month and it was an amazing experience.

Another director you worked with is the king of my hometown of Baltimore- John Waters. How twisted was it working with him on Pecker? He really is Baltimore, isn't he? When I think of Baltimore I think of him. I love John for lots of reasons: for what he stands for, for what he has been through. Working with him is what you think it would be. It is fantastic, fabulous, fun, weird and out there. And I'd work with him again in a second.

Have you directed anything yourself? I've directed a few plays. I really want to direct something. I don't know how it's going to happen. I'm waiting to see if I get a burning desire and will take it from there.

Now you can add "television star" to your resume thanks to Six Feet Under. How did you land that role? Well, I found out a year later that the writers had been thinking about me for the role from the beginning. My agent had mentioned it to me and I had never really thought about TV. And after discussing it I decided why not?

Is it shocking for a film actress living in New York to head off to Hollywood to star in a TV series? Well, I had done a few guest spots on network television shows before. Working for HBO is very different from working on a network television show. We only film 13 episodes as opposed to 22 on network television. It's a lot like the episode of The X-Files I did. It feels like shooting an independent movie really quickly,, because of the creative control and the freedom. The interesting part about filming Six Feet Under is having a different director every episode.

Do you have a new fan base thanks to the show's cult following? I am getting recognized more, but it doesn't feel like a fan base. It just feels like everything got accelerated. Whatever little fan base I had before felt very cool. It still feels small and cool.

You are known as the most versatile character actress in independent film. Are you more comfortable working on smaller productions, or do you feel the bigger films just lack appealing roles? I guess it's a mixture. Studio films and independent film exists like it did years ago. I think what's important to me in taking a part is wheter or not the director can get as much creative control as possible. On a big movie, understandably, there are business interests that are important also. Those business interests are probably going to impose on the creative control.

You do realie that every woman I know between the ages of 20 and 35 can recite your lines from Say Anything on cue. It's amazing! That movie has had such staying power. It's funny because whenever I do karaoke, everyone always wants me to sing "Joe Lies."

Um, wait a minute. Lili Taylor likes karaoke? Yes, I love it.

Now that would truly be a sight to see. What was the last song you performed? Macy Gray's 'I Try' I had gone out with the New York Times Style section and I thought that I wanted to rely on something I knew I was good at. I do take risks also. I am a firm believer in karaoke experimentation.

The last time I did karaoke I thought I could do Prince's 'Kiss' and hit those high notes. It was awful. That is a tough one. I saw someone else try 'Kiss' with that same hope and he too fell flat on his face. God bless you for trying. Here's the deal. Karaoke is a really nice way to hang out with your friends. You can talk, you can root them on.

Okay, so I know you love Macy Gray. What other types of music do you listen to? I love Macy Gray. I am into Coldplay and Godspeed.You Black Emporer. Anything that KCRW in Los Angeles plays, I like.

Karaoke is quirky. People say your characters are quirky. Are you quirky? I don't know if my characters are quirky. It seems whenever someone has a specific character or an unusual character they're labeled quirky. I think the fact that people say I play quirky characters is more a statement about most of the characters you see in film, particulary for women. You never see male character actors labeled quirky. When a female plays a role outside of Hollywood's set parameters then she's called quirky. So no, I don't think I play quirky characters. I think I play interesting women.

Lili Taylor photographed by Xevi

The article is accompanied by a terrific full page color photo of Lili standing on a wooden arch in a dynamic pose, wearing a white tee shirt that says 'Heroine", with white pants and black books.