Nixon 'consumed' by poetic role

Cynthia Nixon is to play acclaimed poet Emily Dickinson in biopic A Quiet Passion.

The Sex And The City star was chosen to portray the American poet by The Deep Blue Sea filmmaker Terence Davies, who wrote the screenplay and is set to direct.

"When I read what Terence had written, I was consumed by the character he had so beautifully put on the page," she told The Hollywood Reporter.

"Emily Dickinson's words and Terence's somehow dovetail to create a heady elixir. When I put the script down, I knew it was a story that I simply have to be part of."

Terence admitted that the part was written specially for Cynthia, who is best known for playing high-flying lawyer Miranda Hobbes in Sex And The City.

"I wrote the screenplay with Cynthia in mind. It was the kind of dream casting you hope for," he said.

"I never, for a moment, imagined my wishes would materialise. Cynthia has such a strong feeling for the work - and now she is our Emily Dickinson. I'm over the moon."

A Quiet Passion will follow Emily's life "from precocious schoolgirl to the tortured recluse who saw only seven of her more than 1,000 poems published in her lifetime". After her death, she was honoured as one of the greatest US poets.