Cynthia Nixon on Channeling Emily Dickinson in A Quiet Passion

The ads won’t scream ‘Cynthia Nixon IS Emily Dickinson!’ but they might have if A Quiet Passion was a lavish ‘50s biopic. The actress’s uncanny portrayal of the 19th-century American poet in Terence Davies’ latest film rivals that of Julie Harris; until now, the best-known interpreter of Dickinson on stage and film.

Nixon says she was influenced as a child by Harris’ performance as Dickinson in a television version of The Belle of Amherst.