Out of Los Angeles and Cannes today comes the news that Jennifer Ehle has been added to the cast of “A Quiet Passion,” a biopic about Emily Dickinson, with “Sex and the City’s” Cynthia Nixon in the title role.
Jason Moring, president of the sales company Double Dutch International, also announced a deal to sell international rights to the feature during the 2015 Cannes Film Market in May. UTA with Indomitable Entertainment holds domestic sales rights.
“A Quiet Passion” is written and directed by award-winning director Terence Davies, whose credits include “The House of Mirth” and “The Deep Blue Sea.”
In a press release, Davies notes, “Emily Dickinson was one of the world’s greatest poets, she distilled the terror and beauty of the world down to the quintessence of meaning and expression, and I feel privileged to tell her story.”
Production kicks off May 4 in Belgium with Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter producing for Hurricane Films and Potemkino co-producing. Executive producers include Jason Van Eman and Ben McConley from Weathervane Productions, Dominic Ianno (“Soul Surfer”) and Stuart Pollok from Indomitable Entertainment, alongside Moring.
The story centers on the life of America’s foremost poet Emily Dickinson, played by Nixon, from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive, unrecognized artist. I didn’t realize that her vast amount of emotional and powerful literary work wasn’t discovered until after her death.
I’m excited about this film because, of course, it’s about Emily Dickinson and you can never have too many films about writers. Also because I don’t believe she’s been covered that much in feature films.
There have been plenty of documentaries about the poet, however, including 2008’s “Angles of a Landscape” from the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts; 2002’s “Loaded Gun: Life, and Death, and Dickinson”; and 1999’s “Voices and Visions: Emily Dickinson.”
Cynthia Nixon is a good choice for the lead role because she has the ability to delve into the psyche of this renowned writer and bring her to life on the big screen.
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