HBO is having a moment. Last night's True Detective finale is all anyone can talk about. The eagerly awaited fourth season of Game of Thrones premieres in less than a month. And, today we got our first real look at The Normal Heart, the Ryan Murphy-directed adaptation of the eponymous Tony Award-winning play.
The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Julia Roberts, Taylor Kitsch, Matt Bomer, and Jim Parsons, and examines the onset of AIDS in '80s New York, and the activists and doctors who fought to expose the epidemic. And, boy does it look powerful. Ruffalo's in fine form here as Ned Weeks, the founder of an HIV advocacy group who must convince the city's officials that AIDS is real and it's dangerous. Although the trailer is only 30 seconds long, it packs quite the emotional punch. Especially Ruffalo's guttural cry of "I am trying to understand why nobody gives a shit that we're dying!" at the end. If the movie lives up to the below clip, then audiences are in for an intense viewing experience to say the least. The Normal Heart airs May 25 at 9 p.m. on HBO.