Ryan Murphy on Why He's Bringing THE NORMAL HEART to the Big Screen

By: Sep. 19, 2012
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Ryan Murphy is a very busy man these days. With three television shows on the air (Glee, American Horror Story, and The New Normal), he is also working on bringing the Tony-winning The Normal Heart to the big screen. Murphy recently revealed in an interview with Vogue: ' I like people who are like, You know what? I don't care what you think. I have something to say. That's why I like Larry Kramer. That's why I want to do that movie.'

He continued: 'I have something to say: I'm dying. I really relate to that sweet, necessary concept of protest and anarchy.'

Click here to read the full interview.

The Normal Heart, which closed on Broadway on July 10, 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 was also 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.



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