A Doctor with a Heart of Gold

Since awareness and advocacy has somewhat dwindled, if you ask around in certain circles, HIV/AIDS is all the rage in Hollywood again.

Matthew McConaughey is working on Dallas Buyer’s Club, and now comes word that Ryan Murphy is getting ready to direct an adaptation of the Tony-winning play The Normal Heart for HBO Films.

To rise the profile of the news even more, Murphy has tapped Julia Roberts, his Eat Pray Love leading lady, to play Dr. Emma Brookner, the paraplegic physician who treats several of those afflicted by the virus and the disease in early-1980s New York City.

Mark Ruffalo will co-star as Ned Weeks, one of the people who witnesses the deadly then-medical mystery, while Matt Bomer is already on board the project, as a reporter who becomes Ned’s lover.

Larry Kramer is adapting the script from his play.

Photo: MillionLooks.com.