A Film Of THE NORMAL HEART?

The revival of the 1985 theater play THE NORMAL HEART has ended its run on Broadway after ratcheting up some of the best reviews of the year and winning several Tony Awards, including Best Revival Of A Play. A film version of the play, a clarion call for action in the first years of the AIDS epidemic, has been in the works for decades. In 1986, Barbra Streisand acquired the film rights but the project never happened due to creative differences with the play’s author Larry Kramer (who apparently wanted a word-for-word film adaptation which did not suit La Streisand). Now the play has a new champion: Ryan Murphy, the creator of the successful television series GLEE. He reportedly has attached Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo to star as the crusading journalist lead and is also talking to Julia Roberts to play the doctor who alerts the public about the growing epidemic (a role that won Ellen Barkin a Tony Award, her first). No start date has been set but the play’s recent heralded run on Broadway may be just the kicker needed to get it to the big screen after all these years.

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