One of the most eagerly awaited properties in the entertainment sphere for Broadway babies in 2014 is undoubtedly the unveiling of the long in-development HBO film adaptation of the iconic Larry Kramer play THE NORMAL HEART, directed by Ryan Murphy, and one of the leads of the film, Taylor Kitsch, opens up about his elemental role in the stage-to-screen property as part of a new interview.

In reflecting on his own relationship to the era depicted in the film – showcasing the early onset of AIDS in the 1980s – Kitsch relates, “I mean, look: I was born in ’81. I had no idea about the whole AIDS epidemic. I’m straight, and playing a gay guy who’s leading a double life, who’s still in the closet, who’s losing his lovers, who has AIDS but won’t admit it to himself, who ends up dying … I mean, where do you want to start? F*ck me, dude. It’s insane.”

Furthermore, Kitsch says, “The body type, the fact that he works at Citibank, very high up on Wall Street, so learning that part of it and reading an insane amount of books about guys who were leading those kinds of lives, learning about AZT and where it started … I knew probably the surface stuff, but what I learned for this, the education I got, that was another great tool.”

Additionally, Kitsch adds of THE NORMAL HEART experience, “[B]eing out of your comfort zone is why you become an actor. You try to stretch yourself as much as you can.”

Lastly, as for the firmly period-set look of his character, Kitsch states, “F*ckin’ eighties, right? And I was getting blown out every morning. I didn’t even know what that was! I just wrapped last week in New York – another insanely heavy movie, very heavy stuff – but man, we would die laughing. I would come in with blond hair like a mess at 5 a.m. I’m not a morning guy, for one, but I’d just be sitting there eating my breakfast, half asleep, and you’d just hear the blow dryer going forever. By the end of it, it was just a joke: I had to add some volume in between takes.”

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