Cynthia Nixon has detected similarities in the personality of Emily Dickinson with hers: In having big feelings, in wanting to connect with other people but not for example party with them, and in desiring to receive attention but kind of having a reluctance of the certain things one does that make it happen.
Despite Dickinson's prolific writing, only 10 poems and a letter were published during her lifetime. After her younger sister Lavinia discovered the collection of nearly 1800 poems, Dickinson's first volume was published four years after her death. Until Thomas H. Johnson published Dickinson's Complete Poems in 1955, Dickinson's poems were considerably edited and altered from their manuscript versions. Since 1890 Dickinson has remained continuously in print.
Terence Davies read six biographies of Emily Dickinson prior to making the film and he believes that she is a genius. Cynthia Nixon also read a lot of biographies of Emily Dickinson in order to get into the role and she detected contradictions, but she found it interesting because she had the chance to choose her favorite versions.
Terence Davies first met Cynthia Nixon when auditioning actresses for a comedy film called Mad About the Boy that ultimately never got made. He never forgot her, though, and her resemblance to Emily Dickinson is what got her cast in this film.
Terence Davies admitted to Cynthia Nixon before filming that he was not only not a fan of her famous show Sex and the City (1998), he found it "pernicious." He did admit that he watched an episode with the sound off and found her reactions the truest. According to him, Nixon was very civilized about his honesty.