Tag Archives: Mark Ruffalo

January 21, 2012 · 8:00 pm

Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer and Alec Baldwin Join THE NORMAL HEART Film

I was one of the lucky people to see the recent Broadway production of this wonderful, heartbreaking play….

I’m so pleased it looks like it is finally headed to the big screen and thrilled with how the cast is shaping up….

Jim Parsons was a standout in the Broadway production and I’m so glad he’s repeating his role in the film.  This is a great break for Matt Bomer, who I just love in “White Collar”.  I think he’ll be just right in this part.   I can see Julia Roberts being very, very good as well.  This will be a challenge for her, but I can see it working.  And Mark Ruffalo can do no wrong….

I’m so excited that this film is being done and apparently being done right!

From Broadway World:

Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bohmer and Alec Baldwin have joined Mark Ruffalo in the upcoming film adaptation of THE NORMAL HEART, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Larry Kramer will adapt his script for the movie; Ryan Murphy, best known for creating FOX’s musical show GLEE, is set to direct the film. It’s being produced by Plan B.

Ruffalo is to play Ned Weeks, while Roberts will play Emma Brookner (the role for which Ellen Barkin received a 2011 Tony Award) and Bomer will play Felix Turner (the role for which John Benjamin Hickey received his Tony). Baldwin is set to play Ben Weeks, and Parsons will reprise his Broadway role as Tommy Boatwright.

The Normal Heart played a 12-week limited engagement on Broadway from April to July 2011. The production won three 2011 Tony® Awards, including Best Revival of a Play, Best Featured Actress in a Play (Ellen Barkin) and Best Featured Actor in a Play (John Benjamin Hickey). The play has also been honored as this season’s Best Revival of a Play by the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards and has received Drama Desk Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Direction of a Play, along with a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle.

The story of a city in denial, The Normal Heart unfolds like a real-life political thriller — as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. First produced by Joseph Papp at New York’s Public Theater, the play was a critical sensation and a seminal moment in theater history. So ahead of its time was this play that many of the core issues it addresses – including gay marriage, the healthcare system and, of course, AIDS – are just as relevant today as they were when it first premiered.

via Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bohmer and Alec Baldwin Join THE NORMAL HEART Film.

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October 2, 2011 · 7:02 pm

We Are the 99 Per Cent – Mark Ruffalo

Wonderful article from actor/activist Mark Ruffalo in today’s Guardian in the UK.

As my friend Linda and many others have noted, this is getting much more press in the British press and overseas than it is here.

I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact the mainstream American media is now mostly owned by large corporate conglomerates….

Yeah, right….

Here is a brief excerpt and a link to the full column:

It is a thing of beauty to see so many people in love with the ideal of democracy, so alive with its promise, so committed to its continuity in the face of crony capitalism and corporate rule. That should be celebrated. It should be respected and admired.

Their message is very clear and simple: get money out of the political process; strive for equality in taxation and equal rights for all regardless of race, gender, social status, sexual preference or age. We must stop poisoning our food, air and water for corporate greed. The people on Wall Street and in the banking industrial complex that destroyed our economy must be investigated and brought to justice under the law for what they have done by stealing people’s homes and savings.

Jobs can and must be created. Family farms must be saved. The oil and gas industry must be divested of its political power and cheap, reliable alternative energy must be made available.

This movement transcends political affiliations. America has been debased and degraded by greed. This has touched 99% of America’s population. The other 1% is doing just fine – with more than a third of the wealth of this nation. We all know people who have been hurt by the big rip-off. We all know people who have lost their jobs or their homes. We all know people who have had to go and fight wars that seem to have no objective and no end – leaving families for years on end without fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.

More: We are the 99 per cent | Mark Ruffalo | Comment is free | The Guardian.

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