HBO will show Tony Award Winning "Angels in America"

[La_Serpiente]

I am just spreading the word on this. I posted this before, but I am doing so again.

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Some new info has arisen about Tony Kushner, the playwright, since I posted the first thread about his upcoming movie on HBO. Most of the reviews have been amazing. Frank Rich of the New York Times wrote a column praising "Angels in America" recently.

Here is the New York Times Biographical piece on Tony Kushner.

Tony Kushner Hits the Heartland

Some awesome quotes and information from the piece.

Mr. Kushner studied literature at Columbia University and contemplated nursing or law as possible career paths. By his senior year, he had immersed himself in Shakespeare, discovered Bertolt Brecht and settled on the theater. For him, art and politics have always gone hand in hand. "Brecht was like a light bulb going off," he says. "He teaches you that within what is apparently a naturally occurring event lies a web of human labor and relationships.

and more...

WHILE "Angels in America" is an epic — "very Steven Spielberg," observes a major character, Prior Walter, as the heavens crack open around him — "Caroline, or Change" is Mr. Kushner's most intimate and autobiographical work. It is a soulful, Southern musical, which fixes its gaze on two families, rather than the entire family of man. The quality the two plays share with the rest of Mr. Kushner's work is the playwright's refusal to acknowledge any barriers between art, politics, religion and his characters' inner lives. And so, in "Angels," set in 1985, a gay man's abandonment of his sick lover expands outward to encompass the Reagan administration's indifference to the AIDS epidemic and, ultimately, to indict a God who has absconded from his creations.

I love it how he understands the meaning of art. Many of today's artists don't incorporate politics into their work. It is nice to see some bucking of this trend.

AND...some quotes from some biased media sources and idiotic gay repukes.

"Despite the Pulitzer Prize it was just awarded, this play is not for White Bread America. It's for people who eat bagels and lox, dress in drag and hate Ronald Reagan."
-Washington Times

"The playwright's 1968 gay politics are neither here nor there; they are simply irrelevant to anything going on today."
-Andrew Sullivan

I am not quoting the above two sources to say that it is a bad movie. It is an awesome movie, plain and simple. However, I just wanted to highlight the way that the Washington Times stereotypes and pigeonholes people into groups and classifications.

Andrew Sullivan? I have always not liked Andrew Sullivan and I have finally realized why. If we went along with his train of thought, GLBT people would gain rights and equal status - but would also be seperated as oppose to integrated. That is my main "beef" with him.

He is also coming out with some new plays as well. "Caroline, or Change" is his most recent work that will be released on Thursday. The New Yorker's John Lahr wrote a review of it here

He is currently writing a play called "Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy," a play that envisions Laura Bush reading the Grand Inquisitor chapter of "The Brothers Karamazov" to the ghost of dead Iraqui children (this one is really going to piss of the conservatives, more than the CBS movie "The Reagans". I will look forward to its release on Broadway).

Below is information and trailers about the movie.

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Angels in America is a play that will be screened on HBO in December. It has an all-star lineup with stars such as Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, and Emma Thompson. I think this movie captures the debate over homosexuality and morality in American society. If the freepers thought that "The Reagans" was a horrible depiction of the man, then it pales in comparison to this.

Here is a trailer of the two-part movie.

Trailer

This looks like a good series.

Angels in America

Angels in America Website

Cast and Crew:

Al Pacino - I didn't know he was in Salome...anyone see the Opera? Remember his performance in Cruising? That was awesome.

He plays Roy Cohn, the homophobic right-wing lawyer that condemned Ethel Rosenburg (Meryl Streep) to death for treason. Suprisingly, she comes to his aid in the end.

Meryl Streep - plays the ghost of Ethel Rosenburg that keeps vigil to the right-wing lawyer Cohn, the same man who was instrumental in condemning her to death for treason.

Emma Thompson - She plays two roles - the Angel, her surname being the Continental Principality of America, and Emily, Kirk's nurse practitioner.

Mary Louise Parker

Jeffrey Wright

Patrick Wilson - He plays the mormon lawyer who is mentored (and lusted after) by Cohn, berated (and lusted after) by Louis Ironson—and burdened (and lusted after) by his wife, Harper. His mother, Hannah Pitt who is a devout Mormon, also finds out that her son, the Mormon lawyer is gay.

Justin Kirk - He plays a gay man, Prior Walter living off his Jewish boyfriend's trust fund. His world comes tumbling down when he discovers that he has AIDS and in turn also loses his boyfriend in the process. When all hope seems lost, an angel busts through the ceiling of his room to try and sort things out.

Ben Shenkman - plays Louis Ironson, the Jewish boyfriend that leaves Prior Walter (Patrick Wilson) and starts a love affair with Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a closeted Mormon lawyer.

Synopsis:

Taken from the Advocate:

Angels in America encompasses a blue-blooded protagonist with AIDS, his lefty Jewish boyfriend, their ex–drag queen pal, a trio of confused Mormons, a fierce angel who crashes down from heaven, and the fire-breathing real-life McCarthy-era lawyer and homophobic homosexual Roy Cohn.

Here is the page for the trailers:

Angels in America Trailers Page

The Advocate does a special on upcoming release and interviews most of its cast members:

Seperate Interview, Justin Kirk

Interviews of Emma Thompson, Ben Shenkman, Tony Kushner, Meryl Streep, and Patrick Wilson

List of its scheduling:

Part I

Sunday, Dec. 7th, 8PM / 7 Central

Part II

Sunday, Dec. 14th, 8PM / 7 Central

For a full list of all its scheduling (there are multiple showings of it) click here:

Full List

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I am looking forward to how the dynamics play in this movie.

[grannylib]

1. This looks so good but I don't get HBO...is it on VHS or DVD??

[La_Serpiente]

2. I am sure

that it will be out on DVD or VHS in a few months.