The first trailer for HBO's Ryan Murphy-directed movie version of The Normal Heart has debuted.
In the video, Mark Ruffalo's Ned Weeks (inspired by writer Larry Kramer) is shown struggling to get public officials to listen to his cries about the existence of an AIDS epidemic, at one point screaming for the New York City mayor's attention as he's being restrained.
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The film, written by Kramer, who won a Tony for his 1985 play of the same name, explores the onset of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York in the early 1980s, including the struggles faced by gay activists and their allies in the medical community to expose the truth to a city in denial.
Meanwhile, Julia Roberts' Dr. Emma Brookner, a pollo survivor who treats several early victims of the disease, is also trying in vain to get people to listen, telling a group of gay men that they'll all infect each other.
The trailer ends with Ruffalo's character screaming, "I am trying to understand why nobody gives a shit that we're dying!"
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The Normal Heart co-stars Taylor Kitsch, Matt Bomer and Jim Parsons. It's set to air on HBO on May 25 at 9 p.m.
Watch the full trailer below.
