Larry Kramer suggests Streisand finds gay sex ‘distasteful’
By Josh Haggis
Larry Kramer has suggested Barbra Streisand finds images of gay sex “distasteful” – just days before the premiere of his HBO film The Normal Heart.
Kramer has adapted his iconic 1985 play of the same for HBO, with Glee‘s Ryan Murphy directing. Mark Ruffalo stars as Ned Weeks, a writer and LGBT activist who witnesses the spread of a disease that has begun to claim the lives of many in the gay community, and sets out to discover the truth.
Streisand acquired the rights to Larry Kramer’s play back in 1985 and spent ten years working with another writer to develop a “cinematic” screenplay for it, but was ultimately unsuccessful and the rights reverted back to Kramer.
Recalling his experiences working with Streisand on the project, Kramer told the The New York Times: “I said [to Barbra] ‘I really think it’s important that after eons of watching men and women make love in the movies, it’s time to see two men do so.’ I bought her a book of very beautiful art pictures of two men making love, and she found it very distasteful.”
Streisand has since responded to Kramer’s comments, telling the newspaper: “Larry was at the forefront of this battle and, God love him, he’s still fighting. But there’s no need to fight me by misrepresenting my feelings.”
She continued: “As a filmmaker, I have always looked for new and exciting ways to do love scenes, whether they’re about heterosexuals or homosexuals. It’s a matter of taste, not gender.”
The Normal Heart – which also stars Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Julia Roberts – will premiere on HBO on May 25. It is set to air on Sky Atlantic in the UK at a later date.
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