Wild Nights with Emily

Wild Nights with Emily is a 2018 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Madeleine Olnek. It stars Molly Shannon as Emily Dickinson.
Release date: March 11, 2018.
Produced by: Anna Margarita Albelo; Casper.
Starring: Molly Shannon; ;Amy Seimetz;; Susan.

Wild Nights with Emily was originally performed as a play at New York's WOW Caf; in 1999,[5] and was also produced by Chicago's Caffeine Theatre in 2010[6][7] as well as in Boston and Alaska.[8] When she was in college, Olnek used to say that she aspired to be "the Emily Dickinson of comedy" because of the conception at the time that Dickinson had been miserable, but she later found out Dickinson was actually really funny.[9] Olnek was inspired to write Wild Nights with Emily when she read an article[10] in The New York Times Magazine about how new advances in science were changing perceptions of historical figures, and which described how Dickinson's correspondence was altered to conceal her lifelong relationship with another woman. This was contrary to the popular conceptions of Dickinson's life and personality.[11] Research of the film had support from Harvard University Press and the Guggenheim Foundation.[12] Olnek used quotes from Dickinson's letters and poems in Wild Nights with Emily, as to tell the story of this lifelong romantic relationship in Dickinson's own words. The quotes that are used in the film are sometimes spoken and sometimes displayed on the screen.[13]

Olnek knew many of the actors in the film from working with them in the past.[14] She attended NYU with Molly Shannon, and had directed a performance with Shannon for which she first created the character Mary Katherine Gallagher.[15](1:12) All these years, Olnek decided to wait to work with Shannon again until she had a story with enough "depth and scale",[9] and Shannon was surprised to be asked because Emily Dickinson is not the type of role that Hollywood would typically offer her.[15] Olnek originally met Amy Seimetz at various film festivals and had always wanted to work with her, and Brett Gelman was recommended by Shannon.[14]

A rough cut of the film won the "US in Progress" award at the Champs-;lys;es Film Festival, including a prize of €50,000 for post production and promotion.[16]

Olnek has credited Drunk History as an inspiration for the tone of the film.[15] She thought it was important to include comedy because she has noticed that "some people don't like to be lectured about feminism".[14](15:20)

"Wild nights - Wild nights!
Were I with thee
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!"

Anyone with a preconceived notion of Emily Dickinson as a painfully shy reclusive Victorian-era lady is likely to feel a shock when they actually read her work, when they dig into the 1,800 poems she left behind when she died. Whatever Dickinson's circumstances may have been, her work shows a life widely lived and deeply felt. She was not sentimental or genteel in any way, shape or form. This was a woman who sent the following note to a friend whose house had burned to the ground.

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