“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.” – Emily Dickinson
She is one of the supreme icons of American poetry. Most of us associate her name with our first studies of literature in school, and see the full extent of her literary genius more clearly as we grow older. In his new film A Quiet Passion, Terence Davis has found the perfect embodiment Emily Dickinson in actress Cynthia Nixon. Among its many sensitive revelations are her battles to get her work published. Watching the young Dickinson deal with the restrictions placed upon women of her time we see her wage battles that many women still face today.
Nixon recalls that her first introduction to the great poet came at an early age when her parents would play a record of Julie Harris reciting Dickinson’s poems and letters, Nixon also watched Harris performing in the 1976 one-woman show, The Belle of Amherst. She says playing the icon was one of the most daunting assignments she has ever done, because Dickinson’s monumental talent and profound thinking were weighty traits to portray.
We couldn’t end the interview without touching upon one of her own most most famous role, as Miranda on Sex and The City. She gives us insight into the brains behind the show, and relays her appreciation that the groundbreaking show centered entirely on four women — something we rarely saw on TV and film at the time.
Read our chat below.
Seeing this film made me want to go back and re-read Emily Dickinson. It triggered a “When I first encountered her” moment. Do you recall when you were first introduced to her?
Definitely. When I was a kid I watched the one-woman show with Julie Harris, The Belle of Amherst, but my mother had a record of Julie Harris reading some of the poems and some of the letters. I remember reading some of that as a young child so often that I could remember parts of it.
We read her in school because she has very simple poems that are suited for children, but she has many more dense, opaque thorny poems that are more challenging.
She’s such an icon in world literature. How do you prepare to take on a role like Emily Dickinson?
It was daunting because she’s a genius and there’s no question about it. She’s a deep thinker and incredibly educated. The amount of time she spent on her daily poetry was like a full-time job and she removed herself from every other responsibility in life except that. So, to make people believe that you were both smart enough and disciplined enough to be a person like Emily Dickinson that was what was most challenging for me.
The film is word heavy and we don’t speak with that formality anymore. Did Terence [Davies] give you any pointers and guidance on that part?
Right. It was largely an English cast with a few Americans. The characters are American who speak more formally and properly than Americans do today, 150 years later. Just because they’re more polite and formal, it doesn’t mean they’re not as wracked with emotions, fears and dreams as we are. I think it’s important to choose your words carefully. Today, we almost intentionally choose our words uncarefully. If we speak too carefully, it makes us seem scheming, I guess. We want to appear incredibly natural and spontaneous.
I know Tom Stoppard. He’s a genius and a great writer and a great thinker. He’s a deeply and broadly educated person. I would think of how he speaks; he’s genuine and sincere. He’s emotionally connected. You’re asking me these questions and I think, “How am I going to answer it?” or “What can I say?” Whenever you ask Tom a question, you think how he has hundreds of different of things that he could choose to answer with. He takes a moment and thinks about which one he wants to say, and that was really helpful to me.
The second half of the film has a wardrobe change reflective of the change in her life when she gives up on the idea of marriage, so she’s no longer wearing corsets. Do you feel that’s symbolic of her freedom and that period in her life?
Like so much of her poetry, there are many interpretations you can give to that choice she made. Is she embracing her virginity? Is she now saying, “I know now that I will never be a married woman?” Is she preparing for her death? Is she trying to return to her childhood? Is she proclaiming her innocence? Is she saying that now her parents are dead the world is robbed of color? There are so many ways to interpret what she did? Or does she simply not want to think about what to wear when she gets up? I think the choice of dress is significant but equally significant is her choice to stop wearing a corset. In some ways, maybe she’s in mourning — and who decided the color for that is black? In China, I think the color is white. It’s not a mourning color for them.
What would Emily think of the impact her work has had on the world today?
I think she would be thrilled and astonished. She wouldn’t be all happy about it. Maybe she’d feel her poems have been misinterpreted or her life has been misunderstood, but I can’t help but think that the overarching feeling would be one of joy and gratitude and astonishment that her work that was so unsung in her lifetime is so widely known today.
You’ve been doing film, TV and theater work for a long time. This is a great story for women. Is there a change happening?
I think there have always been great women stories and definitely biographies. I’m not sure that this movie about her life is reflective of what’s going on in the world in terms of what’s going on in the world in terms of women being represented. I do think that the battles she found in her own life as a woman are the battles that women today are still fighting. We might be a bit further along, but the battle is still the same.
What do you look for in a role?
At this stage of my career, the one thing I definitely look for is an interesting role. Once I turned 45, the roles became more interesting and varied. As a society, we have an anxiety about women who in their childbearing years shouldn’t be too interesting. They’re in charge of children and are generally benevolent and mothers but once you age out of that you are allowed to be greedy, selfish and a host of things.
Anyone who’s grown up enough to be writing about their mother knows that their mother is a deeper complicated character and perhaps not entirely benevolent.
I’m going to ask you about Sex and the City.
Oh for sure.
Did you think when you first came across it, it would go on to become this iconic? What’s it like looking back?
I love Sex and the City. I’m very proud of it and it does astonish me about how uppermost it remains in people’s mind. I think it’s very well made, it’s densely made. I think people didn’t necessarily understand that. It’s like an intricate piece of chamber music. There are four stories woven in every episode. Every episode is a major scene and you have variations on that scene. It’s witty and inspiring and fun to look at. I think you see the minds that worked behind it. Having four women like that, you don’t see many women like that.
It was ahead of its time.
It totally was.
A Quiet Passion is out today.
