‘The Normal Heart’ with Julia Roberts & Mark Ruffalo Heading to HBO

It’s been over two years since we last heard anything about “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of The Normal Heart, writer Larry Kramer’s semi-autobiographical play, which premiered in 1985 (only to be revived in 2011) and focuses on the rise of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984. Mark Ruffalo was attached to star in June of 2010, but since then development has been stagnant. But today HBO has announced that Murphy’s Eat Pray Love lead actress Julia Roberts has joined the cast, and the film, which is also being scripted by Kramer, will premiere exclusively on the cable network in 2014. The film takes “an unflinching look at the nation’s sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical community fought to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city in denial.” Roberts is playing Dr. Emma Brookner, the paraplegic physician who …