Glee's Jonathan Groff has joined
the film adaptation of The Normal Heart, Larry Kramer's
Tony-winning AIDS play.
Groff joins previously announced cast
members Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch and
Jim Parsons in the upcoming Ryan Murphy-directed film for HBO.
Groff will play Craig, an early victim
of the disease and the first lover of Bruce Niles (played by Kitsch,
Friday Night Lights), a closeted investment banker who becomes
a prominent AIDS activist.
As previously reported, Ruffalo – a
co-star of the 2010 lesbian moms flick The Kids Are Alright –
will tackle his first gay role playing Ned Weeks, the hero of
Kramer's play about the early days of the AIDS pandemic. And Roberts
has been cast to play the role of Dr. Emma Brookner, the only doctor
in New York City taking the disease seriously. Parsons will reprise
his role of gay activist Tommy Boatwright from the 2011 Broadway
production.
White Collar star Matt Bomer
will also play gay in the film, taking on the role of gay fashion
journalist Felix Turner, who later becomes Weeks' boyfriend.
Production is slated to begin in New
York City later this year for a 2014 debut on HBO.