HBO Movie ‘The Normal Heart’ Wins Producers Guild’s Stanley Kramer Award

Award was established to honor films or individuals drawing attention to social issues

The HBO movie “The Normal Heart” will receive the 2015 Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, the PGA announced on Friday.

The film, directed by Ryan Murphy and produced by Scott Ferguson, Alexis Martin Woodall, Jason Blum, Dede Gardner, Dante Di Loreto, Ryan Murphy and Brad Pitt, was based on Larry Kramer’s play chronicling the early days of the AIDS epidemic in New York City.

Also read: Why Mark Ruffalo Didn’t Want to Play Larry Kramer in ‘The Normal Heart’ at First

The Stanley Kramer Award was established by the PGA in 2002 to honor films or individuals that raise awareness of social issues, and named for the producer whose films included “Inherit the Wind,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “The Defiant Ones.” Previous recipients include actor Sean Penn, the documentaries “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Bully,” the narrative films “Hotel Rwanda,” “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” and “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” and last year’s winner, “Fruitvale Station.”

“The producers responsible for ‘The Normal Heart’ pulled off an extraordinary feat of storytelling,” said PGA’s national executive director, Vance Van Petten, in a press release announcing the award. “The film is both a moving narrative that lends a human face to the crucial early struggles against HIV/AIDS, and a compelling  call to uphold the activist legacy of its creators and inspiration.”

Also read: ‘Life Itself,’ ‘Merchants of Doubt,’ ‘Virunga’ Land Producers Guild Documentary Nominations

The Stanley Kramer Award is voted on by a seven-person committee appointed by the PGA’s Board of Directors. The committee operates independently of the Producers Guild Awards committee.

The Producers Guild Awards will take place on Jan. 24 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.

 

Comments