Tag: Mark Ruffalo

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HBO’s The Normal Heart covers Entertainment Weekly

This week’s cover of Entertainment Weekly focuses on the developmental journey of The Normal Heart, from Broadway to HBO feature film.

Despite involvement from names like Barbra Streisand, who owned the rights for 10 years, The Normal Heart appeared to be destined for only theater until Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy acquired the rights in 2009 with his own money.

“I really believed in it,” explains Murphy, who first read the play in college and directed the film version. “Larry set a very high price. I gulped and said, ‘Okay,’ and bought it. I think he wanted to see, ‘Is this kid serious?’ And I was.”

Kramer, who’s HIV-positive and currently recovering from unrelated medical complications, was unable to speak to EW but emailed that Heart made it to the screen “because of Ryan Murphy caring passionately about getting it made, abetted by [exec producer] Dante Di Loreto.”

The Normal Heart starring Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Julia Roberts and Jim Parsons debuts on HBO on May 25th. Watch the trailer below:

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Mark Ruffalo talks to HuffPost Live about “The Normal Heart”

Mark Ruffalo talks to HuffPost Live about what drew him to his role in the HBO film adaptation of Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart”:

“I have a lot of compassion for the struggle of people and I was growing up during the AIDS epidemic and I saw how cruel and insensitive people were to these people suffering.

“And it sort of has been forgotten, what happened in our culture during those times…and the small group of people who instituted vast change and brought us to the point today where gay marriage is almost as common as [traditional] marriage right now.

“That was an important story that needed to be told.”

“The Normal Heart” debuts on HBO on May 25th.

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New trailer for HBO’s “The Normal Heart”

HBO has released a new trailer for the upcoming screen adaptation of Larry Kramer’s award-winning play “The Normal Heart.”

“The Normal Heart,” directed by Ryan Murphy, chronicles the rise of AIDS in the 1980s during the earliest years of the epidemic.

The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Jonathan Groff.

Debuts on HBO on May 25.

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HBO’s “The Normal Heart” to debut on May 25th

HBO Films has announced that “The Normal Heart” will  see it’s world debut at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT) May 25th on HBO.

The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons and Julia Roberts.  Also featured in the production are Alfred Molina, Joe Mantello, Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Stephen Spinella, Corey Stoll, Finn Wittrock and BD Wong.

Directed by Ryan Murphy and written by Larry Kramer, adapting his groundbreaking Tony Award-winning play of the same name, “The Normal Heart” tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation’s sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fight to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city and nation in denial.

Ruffalo portrays Ned Weeks, who witnesses first-hand a mysterious disease that has begun to claim the lives of many in his gay community and starts to seek answers. Matt Bomer plays Felix Turner, a reporter who becomes Ned’s lover. Taylor Kitsch plays Bruce Niles, a closeted investment banker who becomes a prominent AIDS activist. Jim Parsons plays gay activist Tommy Boatwright, reprising his role from the 2011 Broadway revival. Roberts plays physician Dr. Emma Brookner, a survivor of childhood polio who treats several of the earliest victims of HIV-AIDS.

Kramer’s play debuted at New York’s Public Theatre in 1985 and was revived in Los Angeles and London, and off-Broadway. The 2011 Broadway revival garnered five Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival, Best Featured Actor and Best Featured Actress.

(source)

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Mark Ruffalo shuts down O’Reilly Factor reporter on Benghazi

Actor Mark Ruffalo is not having any of the “Benghazi scandal” BS from “O’Reilly Factor” interviewer Jesse Watters at the premiere of “Infinitely Polar Bear” at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

Watters keeps trying to push his point of a “scandal” even though an investigation found the Obama Administration was NOT responsible for any mishandling.

Spin, spin, spin, kids.

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HBO “End of Year Promo” includes first view of footage from THE NORMAL HEART

Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer in HBO’s THE NORMAL HEART

This past weekend HBO released it’s “End of the Year” promo which included the first footage the public has had a chance to glimpse of the upcoming THE NORMAL HEART.

One of the most anticipated gay media moments of 2014 is the film adaptation of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, which features a star-studded cast including Mark Ruffalo, Jim Parsons, Taylor Kitsch, Matt Bomer, and Julia Roberts.

Julia Roberts in HBO’s THE NORMAL HEART

Jim Parsons in HBO’s THE NORMAL HEART

(via Towleroad)

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HBO green lights The Normal Heart movie adaptation

Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo in 'The Normal Heart'

Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo in 'The Normal Heart'
Matt Bomer and Mark Ruffalo in ‘The Normal Heart’
The movie-adaptation of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart seem to have finally been worked out. HBO announced today that they greenlit the movie to be directed by Ryan Murphy, according to Deadline. As announced earlier, Julia Roberts will play Emma Brookner, the paraplegic physician who treats several of the earliest victims of the disease (played by Ellen Barkin in the recent Broadway production and currently stars in Murphy’s The New Normal). Word is Mark Ruffalo will still play Ned Weeks (the Kramer stand-in) and Matt Bomer (the only out actor currently part of the movie) will play Felix Turner, a reporter who becomes Ned’s lover. Kramer is adapting the play for the screen himself, and the film should begin filming this fall in New York City and air in 2014. The 2011 Broadway revival garnered five Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival, Best Featured Actor for John Benjamin Hickey as Turner and Best Featured Actress for Ellen Barkin as the doctor. (source)