Cynthia Nixon has spent a great deal of her career on the small screen as of late, taking recurring roles in shows like World Without End (which just began its run), Sh0wtime's The Big C, and, of course, Sex and the City, but she's now prepping a return to the big screen - and as one of our greatest poets no less. There is news out of the Toronto Film Festival that Nixon has signed on for the starring role in a biopic about famed poet Emily Dickinson. Terence Davies, best known for writing and directing movies like The House of Mirth and, most recently, The Deep Blue Sea, is helming the project.
According to THR, the film, titled A Quiet Passion, will be about Dickinson's entire life, from her time as a schoolgirl to her time as a " tortured recluse who saw only seven of her more than 1,000 poems published in her lifetime." Dickinson was born in 1830 and died in 1986 at the age of 55. Said Davies about Nixon's casting, "I wrote the screenplay with Cynthia in mind," Davies said. "It was the kind of dream casting you hope for. I never, for a moment, imagined my wishes would materialize. Cynthia has such a strong feeling for the work -- and now she is our Emily Dickinson. I’m over the moon."
Nixon's most recent film appearance came in Oren Moverman's 2011 cop drama Rampart, in which she played the ex-wife of Woody Harrellson's character. Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter from Hurricane Films will be producing the film, though the trade doesn't say when they are aiming to start production.
