Roberts, Baldwin, Bomer, Parsons Join NORMAL HEART — Page 2

I didn't realize that Cooper was actually attached to Felix; I knew he'd expressed interest. I definitely see him as more of a Bruce, though that's not to say he wouldn't make a good Felix.

I'll be very curious to see who else they get for the film. The initial cast is really solid.

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Uh oh, Julia Roberts? I immediately thought of the Will and Grace episode where everyone keeps saying, "mismatch". That's what people will be saying after seeing this film. She'll be competing with Taylor Swift for the "most miscast" of 2012. Thank god her scenes don't make up the majority of the script though. So far it looks like the rest of the cast is great. I'm still not convinced that Ryan Murphy is the best director for this project though.

Hmmmm I wonder if Emma's going to be given a big horsey laugh? Oh, I hope so!
Will work so well in her monologue!

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>> However, I have a lot of reservations for this film. One, and this is terrible, but I feel like it's being made 10-15 years too late. HIV/AIDS is seen by many as yesterday's problem.

But I think that's WHY it's more suitable to made as a film now. Had it been made back in the day it would have been a small, art house, "gay" film that nobody would see outside of an LGBT film festival.

Now that it may be seen as "yesterday's problem", it can be made with big name straight Hollywood stars, and people might actually see it--because people think it's ancient history. Just like Milk.

But, of course, it's not ancient history to many of us who were alive and around and aware of those days. And it's good that younger people will see these stories being told, and straight people will see these stories being told, and people will realize the huge battle that was being fought by a small group of people--whom we should all be grateful to.

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Side note: Although it might seem unrelated, I would recommened a documentary called "Pink Ribbons, Inc.", which is about how the fight against cancer turned from "marching in the street" to "running for a cure." The film asks, with so much money raised for cancer research, why has so little been accomplished?

I think you can compare this to AIDS, where people *did* "march in the streets" and those people *did* accomplish quite a lot. In a relatively short period of time, HIV was discovered, prevention efforts were launched, and treatments were created.

Compare with cancer, which kills far more people and has none of the gay stigma that AIDS has. A thousand times more money has been raised, and research has been going on for decades. Yet science doesn't even know what causes cancer.

So, I think the story that is told in The Normal Heart is very relevant today. It's an important piece of recent history. And hopefully the film will turn out well, and peole will be able to learn about these unnamed heroes who fought the Man for the betterment of all.

Trailer for Pink Ribbons, Inc. : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc96Vp6Dux4

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Jordan the reason people are saying roberts is mismatched, is that even in the films where she supposedly gives a 'strong performance' many people feel like she really isn't doing anything different than when she does a more traditional julia roberts movie. And frankly a typical julia roberts performance won't suit this character.

I also wonder when this is going to shoot. Parsons' role is relatively small, but he's using his hiatus from THE BIG BANG THEORY to do HARVEY for Roundabout right up until he goes back to filming the series, so for him to be involved, I imagine they'll shoot in New York over the summer and he'll film during the day.

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Updated On: 1/21/12 at 09:45 PM

"I love my life"

Yes, it is!

Idiot wrote:Ryan Murphy is a spectacularly successful bad storyteller. At least with NORMAL HEART, the story's already been told.

Sure. Except that film is a director's medium and directing as as important a form of storytelling as scriptwriting is.

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somethingwicked wrote:Ryan Murphy directing this is not a big mystery at all... given how hot he is right now.... I completely agree that Murphy is far from the best choice, but, without him, this would never be happening.

Forgive me, you're right. The big, puzzling mystery is how he got so "hot" in the first place. And the film not happening if it's not going to happen without Murphy might be the preferable option. We'll get to save a great deal of wasted time and money.

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Jordan Catalano wrote:
Julia is a PHENOMENAL actress... She's going to be great, I know it.

I think she's great. It often surprises me how resourceful she can be as an actress. She's worked on some awful films, but I think she has a great deal more to offer than sometimes meets the eye. I don't have a problem with her being cast in this.

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luvcaroline wrote:
I am somewhat surprised at all the hate for Murphy. Parts of AMERICAN HORROR STORY were absolutely spectacular.

Maybe 15% of it was pretty good, although that might be slightly generous. The rest of it was a slew of predictable and derivative mediocrity that was sometimes disguised by some really good acting. I am somewhat surprised that so many people fell for it.

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Updated On: 1/22/12 at 12:40 AM

After the show one night Larry Kramer showed me how to put a condom on a plantain.

I wouldn't if I were him. All I ever see nowadays when somebody like him comes out, among many (not all) of my friends and colleagues on Facebook and other places is, "Duh!", "About time!" and "Tell us something we DON'T know."

At this point, I would just tell everybody to go eff themselves.

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Updated On: 1/22/12 at 01:36 AM

I think the film should just speak for itself. Just let it be created and exist and be. Thank the lord it will be playing in too many theaters for Larry Kramer to run around passing out leaflets saying NOTHING is any better, everything is as horrible as it always was, we lost the battle.

Although I am sure he'll probably argue to get that all printed onscreen before the closing credits roll.

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SondheimFan5, I seriously doubt it. Kramer's unwillingness to do any re-writes (specifically leading up to and during the proposed shooting schedule) is what caused the friction between him, Streisand, and the studio the last time the film was in development (and is part of the reason the studio pushed Streisand to bring in someone else to do the adaptation.)

Odds are that the draft he has already handed in is set in stone.

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