The film, to be shown in two parts on Dec. 7 and 14, has a creative and artistic dream team that helped to usher it along. Helming the translation from stage to screen is veteran director Mike Nichols, Kushner adapted his own screenplay, and the cast includes none other than Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary Louis-Parker, Jeffrey Wright (the only hold over from the original New York cast), Justin Kirk, Ben Shenkman, Patrick Wilson, James Cromwell, Michael Gambon, and Simon Callow. Angels in America is a harrowing and forceful look at America in the 1980's, touching on such vast themes as AIDS, religion, family, sexuality, spirituality and politics. When it debuted on Broadway in 1993, critics hailed it as one of the most important pieces of American drama in the last half century. The first half, Millenium Approaches appeared in 1993 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the Tony Award for Best Play. One year later, the finale Perestroika gave Kushner the Best Play Tony for a second straight year and won Jeffrey Wright an acting award.
Angels in America features music by Thomas Newman, costumes by Ann Roth, the editor is John Bloom, production design by Stuart Wurtzel, photography by Stephen Goldblatt, a screenplay by Tony Kushner, and direction by Mike Nichols.
All photos are by Stephen Goldblatt/HBO