Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Alec
Baldwin, Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo are set to star in the upcoming
big screen adaptation of The
Normal Heart.
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 Larry
Kramer's Tony-winning play about the early days of the AIDS crisis.
According to The
Hollywood Reporter, Director Ryan Murphy, the creator of
Fox's Glee and FX's American Horror Story, has cast
Roberts as Dr. Emma Brookner, the only doctor in New York City taking
the disease seriously, and Baldwin as Ben Weeks, a lawyer and Ned
Weeks' brother. Big Bang Theory co-star Parsons will reprise
his Broadway role of AIDS activist Tommy Boatwright.
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.
In discussing the role last year with
gay glossy The Advocate, Ruffalo said he hesitated before
accepting the role.
“It's a great honor, but I was
hesitant about doing Normal Heart because it probably should
be a gay actor,” Ruffalo said. “I brought that up to Ryan, but
he said that I was the actor he wanted.”
Last year, Ruffalo
and his wife Sunrise recorded a video in support of New York becoming
the sixth state to legalize marriage equality.