'The Normal Heart' on HBO has a release date! 'The Normal Heart' cast members Mark Ruffalo and Jim Parons praised Larry Kramer, who wrote the Tony Award winning play on which the movie based. Also, there are rumors that a sequel to 'The Normal Heart' may already be in the works.
'The Normal Heart' movie, based on the 1985 Larry Kramer play, will premiere May 25 at 9 p.m. on HBO, the network said.
The adaptation, which was directed by Glee's Ryan Murphy, features an all star cast whichincludes Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Jonathan Groff.
'The Normal Heart' chronicles the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 80s. Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo) seeks to organize more action to combat a new disease killing gay men in New York City after seeing a friend succumb to the new illness at the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner (Julia Roberts). His actions threaten to alienate the people around him, including his brother Ben (Alfred Molina), his lover Felix (Matt Bomer), and Bruce Niles (Taylor Kitsch), a closeted investment banker.
Denis O'Hare ("American Horror Story," "True Blood") and Joe Mantello have previously starred in stage productions as protagonist Ned Weeks, who is portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in the film. Mantello starred as Ned Weeks in the 2011 Broadway revival of "The Normal Heart," which also starred Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory).
Parsons plays the same character in the HBO film version. He had props and sets to get him into the 1980s New York setting of the story.
"I did make one huge mistake," he states about reprising his role to Variety. "They needed some people to smoke for one scene, because smoking was a lot more prevalent back then, and I said, 'What the hell, I'll do it.' It's not a very long scene, but it's a movie, so we shot that scene for hours. My own mouth tasted so bad to me!"
"The last time I saw Larry he was very very ill," Ruffalo said. "So it was very moving for me to see him standing here tonight, looking so divine.
HBO is currently considering a sequel to 'The Normal Heart' film, with Kramer returning to write and Murphy returning to direct.
