Parodically Incorrect

Julie Brown, the red-haired maven of pop culture parody, is back in front of the camera after a sabbatical of sorts. Not that she spent much time resting, mind you.

For the past three years, she’s spent most of her time behind the scenes: dubbing cartoon character voices for the television shows “Tiny Toon Adventures” and “Aladdin,” working as a writer and producer for the TV series “Clueless” (she had a small part in the 1995 film) and continuing to work with her longtime writing partner, Charlie Coffey (the duo won a Writers Guild award in 1992 for their made-for-cable Madonna satire “Medusa: Dare to Be Truthful”).

The main reason for the lower profile is that the erstwhile Valley girl is now a Valley mom. Spending time with her 4-year-old son is, it turns out, even more rewarding than making fun of rock stars.

Now, in “Plump Fiction”--which opens Friday and is the first film from Rhino Films, the movie-making arm of Rhino Records--she stars as Mimi, the alter ego of Uma Thurman’s Mia in “Pulp Fiction.” Both femmes have shiny black bobs, tough-guy husbands and hard-to-shake bad habits. But while Mia’s vice was cocaine, Mimi is a woman whose lust is for chocolate. And she’s, well, slightly more plump than the svelte Mia.

Brown, who is actually a petite brown-eyed beauty in her late 30s, nestles into a booth at Jerry’s Deli in Studio City to discuss her feature film comeback.

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Question: Has Quentin Tarantino seen “Plump Fiction”?

Answer: I don’t know if he’s seen the movie, but he got a copy of the script and he thought it was funny.

Q: So you don’t think he’ll get upset and hit anyone in a restaurant?

A: No, I think he’ll get it. His films are pretty funny too.

Q: You’ve done spoof films before. You’ve lampooned Madonna, Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt among others.

A: Yeah and on “The Edge” [a short-lived Fox skit-com] I did Mariah Carey, Delta Burke, Naomi Judd. . . .

Q: Do you like that aspect of comedy?

A: I do, it’s really fun, but it’s just one thing that I do. I don’t just identify myself as this person who does characters. I like doing original characters too.

Q: You’ve taken some time off from acting since having your son. What was it like to be on a movie set again?

A: It was fun. Paul Dinello [who plays the John Travolta character] was really cool. A lot of comedians, or actor-comedians, are really insecure, and their insecurity manifests in having, like, a big, big ego. Paul was very sweet and very cool. Which seems different.

Q: Your character, Mimi, is a plump woman, hence the title. Tell me about wearing the fat suit.

A: Well, it wasn’t comfortable but it wasn’t a severe fat suit. I wore a severe fat suit when I played Carnie Wilson [of the singing group Wilson Phillips] and Delta Burke. But this wasn’t that horrible because it wasn’t a complete fat suit. My character had to be shapely.

Q: Do you ever worry about offending overweight women?

A: Well, you know, I have before, like when I did Delta and Carnie on “The Edge.” I was really worried about that. But [writer-director Bob Koherr] wrote the Uma Thurman-based character as a chunky woman. So I decided to make this character just be somebody who thought she was really sexy even though she’s chunky. Mimi thinks she’s hot and I love that. So I didn’t think it was mean or offensive.

Q: So what do you think of the film overall?

A: I think it’s funny. [She pauses.] I do wish they had released it sooner though.

Q: Yeah, “Pulp Fiction” came out in 1994. But the short film it’s playing with, “Swing Blade”--a spoof of the Carl character from “Sling Blade” hanging out with the “Swinger” guys--is a popular underground film. Have you seen it?

A: No, I’ve heard of “Swing Blade,” but I haven’t seen it. That’s great, it’s a perfect match, putting two satires together.

Q: Do you ever run into Downtown Julie Brown? [In 1988, Julie Brown did a short stint on MTV filling in for a vacationing veejay also named Julie Brown, a statuesque, black model from England. The “West Coast” Julie Brown was such a hit that MTV gave her a show of her own, “Just Say Julie,” thus setting off a heated battle between the two Julies over rights to the name. Ultimately the redhead got to keep the name because she was registered with the acting unions AFTRA and SAG first; the other Julie Brown must forever be referred to professionally as Downtown Julie Brown.]

A: I’m supposed to do a thing with her [on the E! channel] to promote this movie! I personally have no gripe against her at all, but the thing that bothers me about her is that she uses my name and she will not always use the Downtown thing. And the other thing is that because we were both on MTV I sometimes get called “Downtown.” And it’s like, “I’m not Downtown, OK?” But you hear yourself saying that, and you think, “This is ridiculous.”

Q: So what’s next for you?

A: Charlie and I have written two movies for HBO. The first is “Hostile Makeover,” which is a big-haired cosmetics drama about Mary Kay Ash and Ginger Heath; they’re real-life rivals. Michael Lehmann, who directed “My Giant” and “Heathers,” is attached to direct it. Next up is “Trigger Happy,” a musical about gun control.