The Normal Heart Beats at Technicolor

Directed by Ryan Murphy, and starring Mark Ruffalo, Taylor Kitsch, Julia Roberts, Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons, The Normal Heart is a searing, rather explicit indictment surrounding the lack of response to the health crisis in New York City, in the early 1980s.  Aside from the inherently challenging, and emotionally charged subject matter, the project is also unique in that the final film is eight-reels in length, long for broadcast productions, and finished in 2K-film resolution by Technicolor’s Tony Dustin.  Technicolor Hollywood delivered the film’s broadcast mastering, while Technicolor Digital Cinema in Burbank produced the film’s digital cinema master (DCM).  Technicolor’s award-winning sound team handled all sound services for Mr. Murphy – as they have done for his broadcast series, American Horror Story, and Glee.  Led by sound supervisor Gary Megregian, with sound mixing by Joe Earle and Doug Andham, Technicolor provided all editorial, ADR and Foley work.

The Normal Heart was produced by Plan B Entertainment along with producers Ryan Murphy, Brad Pitt, Scott Ferguson, and Alexis Martin Woodall for HBO.  The film was broadcast beginning in the US on May 25^th.  The film was shot, on celluloid, on-locations in New York City, and environs, with cinematographer Danny Moder behind the camera.  The film’s dailies lab processing was performed at Technicolor-PostWorks NY, with Dave Francis handling the dailies grading.

The Normal Heart was adapted from playwright Larry Kramer’s multiple Tony Award-winning play. While focusing its attention on the local NYC community, its narrative details the growing advocacy around the emerging, and largely ignored AIDS crisis in America of that same period.  The play was first performed off-Broadway, in 1985, and in subsequent years was produced around the world – to uniform accolades, winning many coveted awards from the world’s dramatic-arts community.  In 2000, the Royal National Theatre in England named the play as one of the 100 greatest plays of the 20^th century.