CYNTHIA NIXON
The Sex and the City star, 50, who played Eleanor Roosevelt in the 2005 TV movie Warm Springs, takes on another first lady, Nancy Reagan, in Killing Reagan, premiering tonight on the National Geographic Channel. Based on the book by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, the twohour movie looks at the events leading to the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan (Tim Matheson) by John Hinckley Jr. in 1981. What’s the ongoing appeal of Ronald Reagan? Reagan was able to catch a certain lightning in a bottle. He had such charisma; he saw what many others didn’t. But I think we’re fascinated by Reagan because people who hated him really hated him and still hate him. And people who loved him, their love was unbounded. What was the key to Nancy? To me, the key was that she had never had a person who belonged completely to her before she met her husband.
She really felt like she wanted to be the most important person in the world to somebody, and she never felt like that until she married Ronald Reagan. You’re playing Emily Dickinson in the movie
A Quiet Passion (Nov. 18). I’ve loved Dickinson since I was a kid. Particularly as a younger person, I really identified with her. [Director] Terence Davies wrote this film with me in mind, which is amazing. What’s your perspective on Sex and the
City? Its longevity is remarkable to me, and how it really still stands up. The thing it really put its finger on was this whole generation of women who were successful, had careers and lots of boyfriends, but marriage wasn’t necessarily the first thing on their to-do lists. What does she think the Reagans would have thought about the release of John Hinckley Jr.? Go to Parade.com/cynthia to find out. Email your questions for Walter Scott to personality@parade.com