The cast of the upcoming film The
Normal Heart speaks out on the film in a The Hollywood
Reporter cover story.
Director Ryan Murphy's (Glee, Eat
Pray Love) film adaptation of Larry Kramer's Tony-winning AIDS
play will premiere on Sunday, May 25 on HBO.
The film features an all-star cast,
including Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons and
Julia Roberts.
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 in New York City.
A film adaptation failed to gain
traction in Hollywood for nearly 30 years, despite attempts by
high-profile actors such as Barbra Streisand.
In 2012, Kramer accused Streisand of
lacking “the burning passion to make it.”
“It was hard for me to be attacked
like that by Larry,” Streisand
said. “I worked for so many years on it without ever taking a
penny. I will always believe in Larry's play and its powerful theme
of everyone's right to love.”
Parsons, who also starred in the play
and is openly gay, said that AIDS transcends sexual orientation:
“I've worked with too many straight colleagues on this who have
been emotionally devastated by it to foolishly believe it's just a
gay issue.”
Ruffalo said he asked Murphy whether a
gay actor would be better suited to play his part.
“I said to Ryan, 'Aren't we at the
age when a gay actor should be playing this?' He made it clear to me
that attitude wasn't in the spirit of the film.”
A behind-the-scenes look at THR's photo
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