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| Cynthia Nixon: Emily Dickinson would have loved Twitter Cynthia Nixon: Emily Dickinson would have loved Twitter | |
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| Contrary to received opinion, American poet Emily Dickinson was not uncommunicative and would have enjoyed modern social media, said Cynthia Nixon, the former Sex and the City actor who plays Dickinson in the new film, A Quiet Passion. | Contrary to received opinion, American poet Emily Dickinson was not uncommunicative and would have enjoyed modern social media, said Cynthia Nixon, the former Sex and the City actor who plays Dickinson in the new film, A Quiet Passion. |
| Nixon was speaking at a press conference at the Berlin film festival, where A Quiet Passion had its world premiere on Sunday. “Even though Emily [Dickinson] was so secluded,” Nixon said, “she was all about connecting to other people. Not necessarily in person – sometimes through letters, sometimes through poems. The thing about her was that she was able to what we call today ‘unplug’, and be selfish in the best way. But when she was plugged in, she was very plugged in. I can imagine her emailing and tweeting all day long. If virtual communication would have been as easy then as it is now, she would have derived great benefit from it.” | Nixon was speaking at a press conference at the Berlin film festival, where A Quiet Passion had its world premiere on Sunday. “Even though Emily [Dickinson] was so secluded,” Nixon said, “she was all about connecting to other people. Not necessarily in person – sometimes through letters, sometimes through poems. The thing about her was that she was able to what we call today ‘unplug’, and be selfish in the best way. But when she was plugged in, she was very plugged in. I can imagine her emailing and tweeting all day long. If virtual communication would have been as easy then as it is now, she would have derived great benefit from it.” |
| Dickinson, who died in 1886 aged 55, lived virtually all her life in the same house in Amherst, Massachusetts with her family. She never married, like her sister Lavinia (played in the film by Jennifer Ehle), who outlived her by 13 years, dying in 1899. Though a prolific writer of poetry, Dickinson saw only a handful of her verses published in her lifetime, and it was only after her death, when Lavinia discovered a cache of dozens of poems, that a significant amount of her work saw publication. | Dickinson, who died in 1886 aged 55, lived virtually all her life in the same house in Amherst, Massachusetts with her family. She never married, like her sister Lavinia (played in the film by Jennifer Ehle), who outlived her by 13 years, dying in 1899. Though a prolific writer of poetry, Dickinson saw only a handful of her verses published in her lifetime, and it was only after her death, when Lavinia discovered a cache of dozens of poems, that a significant amount of her work saw publication. |
| Writer-director Terence Davies said it was that lack of recognition that motivated him to take Dickinson’s life on as a subject. “She was a recluse, but it doesn’t mean she didn’t live a rich and cultured life, even if she was a great, gifted poet and was not recognised in her lifetime. That’s what prompted me: when someone is as great as that, and they don’t get recognition, that really upsets me. I just wanted to recreate the wonderful atmosphere of that house. I grew up the youngest of 10 children, and I know what it’s like to live in a tiny house with a lot of people – it’s full of drama.” | Writer-director Terence Davies said it was that lack of recognition that motivated him to take Dickinson’s life on as a subject. “She was a recluse, but it doesn’t mean she didn’t live a rich and cultured life, even if she was a great, gifted poet and was not recognised in her lifetime. That’s what prompted me: when someone is as great as that, and they don’t get recognition, that really upsets me. I just wanted to recreate the wonderful atmosphere of that house. I grew up the youngest of 10 children, and I know what it’s like to live in a tiny house with a lot of people – it’s full of drama.” |
| Nixon suggested that although playing such a celebrated figure may have been “intimidating”, her familiarity with her work meant it was a little easier. “I loved Emily’s poems and letters from a very early age – we had a recording in our family we used to play all the time – and I guess as shy young person I found a lot to identify with. I don’t think that’s unusual – I think a lot of people see themselves in Emily Dickinson. So that made me a little more bold.” | Nixon suggested that although playing such a celebrated figure may have been “intimidating”, her familiarity with her work meant it was a little easier. “I loved Emily’s poems and letters from a very early age – we had a recording in our family we used to play all the time – and I guess as shy young person I found a lot to identify with. I don’t think that’s unusual – I think a lot of people see themselves in Emily Dickinson. So that made me a little more bold.” |
| A Quiet Passion represents director Terence Davies’ second film in quick succession, after 2015’s Sunset Song, which premiered in autumn 2015. According to Davies, it was down to “sheer luck”. “Sunset Song was delayed for various reasons, and we were finishing it when we were getting toward the post-production on this. It makes a difference to waiting 10 years between things, I can tell you. At 70, it’s finally happened, one film after another.” | A Quiet Passion represents director Terence Davies’ second film in quick succession, after 2015’s Sunset Song, which premiered in autumn 2015. According to Davies, it was down to “sheer luck”. “Sunset Song was delayed for various reasons, and we were finishing it when we were getting toward the post-production on this. It makes a difference to waiting 10 years between things, I can tell you. At 70, it’s finally happened, one film after another.” |