The Normal Heart is a 2014 American television drama film directed by Ryan Murphy and written by Larry Kramer, based on his 1985 play of the same name.

The film stars Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Taylor Kitsch, Jim Parsons, Alfred Molina, Joe Mantello, Jonathan Groff, and Julia Roberts.

The film depicts the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks (Ruffalo), the founder of a prominent HIV advocacy group.

[1] In the summer of 1981, Alexander "Ned" Weeks, an openly gay writer from New York City, travels to Fire Island to celebrate the birthday of his friend Craig Donner at a beach house.

Other friends in attendance include Mickey Marcus and the charismatic Bruce Niles, who has recently begun dating Craig, who is young and appears to be in good health.

Back in the city, he visits the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician who has seen many patients afflicted with symptoms of rare diseases that normally would be harmless unless their immune systems had been compromised.

In the waiting room, Ned meets Sanford, a patient whose face and hands are marked with skin lesions caused by Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare cancer.

Ned, Bruce, Mickey, and several other friends including Tommy Boatwright establish a community organization called Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC).

Ned contacts gay New York Times reporter Felix Turner, hoping that he can use his media connections to publish more stories about the unfolding health crisis.

In August 2011, Ryan Murphy said in an interview with Deadline Hollywood that he had optioned The Normal Heart and intended to produce the film version, starring Mark Ruffalo "and maybe Julia Roberts".

[7] The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the film news in January 2012, adding Alec Baldwin, Matt Bomer, and Jim Parsons to the previously announced cast.

Murphy stated that he created this film, despite the play from which it derives being written in the 1980s, due to fears that people born after the 1980s AIDS crisis would not remember its lessons.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Thanks to Emmy-worthy performances from a reputable cast, The Normal Heart is not only a powerful, heartbreaking drama, but also a vital document of events leading up to and through the early AIDS crisis.

"[20] Ellen Gray of the Philadelphia Daily News commended "And though the supporting cast members are all good (Parsons particularly so), it's Kramer's fury, channeled through Ruffalo's manic energy as the writer's alter-ego Ned Weeks, that keeps The Normal Heart beating and preserves a horrific bit of all too recent history not in amber, but in anger.

The translation from stage to screen also yields speeches that probably played better live, although the director has for the most part opened up the Tony-winning material into movie form," although he particularly hailed The Normal Heart as "a character-oriented drama with theatrical talent and values that would face challenges finding much purchase at the modern-day multiplex.