Angels in America 

Playwright Tony Kushner adapts his political epic about the AIDS crisis during the mid-1980s and centers the story around a group of separate but connected individuals.

Stars:

Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson

Won 5 Golden Globes. Another 57 wins & 42 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Al Pacino	...	Roy Cohn 6 episodes, 2003
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Harper Pitt 5 episodes, 2003
Jeffrey Wright	...	Belize / ... 5 episodes, 2003
Justin Kirk	...	Prior Walter / ... 5 episodes, 2003
Ben Shenkman	...	Louis Ironson 5 episodes, 2003
Patrick Wilson	...	Joe Pitt 5 episodes, 2003
James Cromwell	...	Roy's Doctor 5 episodes, 2003
Meryl Streep	...	Ethel Rosenberg / ... 5 episodes, 2003
Emma Thompson	...	Nurse Emily / ... 5 episodes, 2003
Brian Markinson	...	Martin Heller 4 episodes, 2003
Robin Weigert	...	Mormon Mother 4 episodes, 2003
Melissa Wilder	...	Louis's Sister 4 episodes, 2003
David Zayas	...	Super 4 episodes, 2003
Fatima Da Silva	...	Cousin Doris 4 episodes, 2003
Kevin 'Flotilla DeBarge' Joseph	...	Singer in Church 4 episodes, 2003
Sterling Brown	...	Orderly 4 episodes, 2003
Florence Kastriner	...	Louis' Mother 4 episodes, 2003
Lisa LeGuillou	...	Nurse 4 episodes, 2003
Howard Pinhasik	...	Louis' Father 4 episodes, 2003
Shawn Bartels	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Brian Dougherty	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Mary Esbjornson	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Barbara Fusco	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Serafina Martino	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Steven Edward Moore	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Christopher Schuman	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Reldalee Wagner	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003
Matthew Yohn	...	Mennonite Choir Members 4 episodes, 2003

Storyline

God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Lou, his lover of four years, he's ill; Lou bolts. As disease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Lou. Joe Pitt, an attorney who is Mormon and Republican, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the Justice Department. Both Pitt and Cohn are in the closet: Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death. Pitt's mother and Belize, a close friend, help Prior choose.

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Plot Keywords:

death | aids | loneliness | valium | heaven | 

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Taglines:

The messenger has arrived.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

HBO

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Hebrew Aramaic Yiddish French

Release Date:

7 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ameerika inglid

Filming Locations:

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avenue Pictures, HBO Films, Panorama Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

352 min (6 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Central Park fountain that is prominently featured in Kushner's play and its film adaptation is officially titled "The Angel of the Waters" and familiarly known as "The Bethesda Fountain." It was installed in 1873 and sculpted by artist Emma Stebbins (1815-1882), who was the first woman to be commissioned to create a sculpture for the City of New York. Stebbins was also the sister of the president of the Central Park Board of Commissioners, and the longtime romantic partner of world-famous actress Charlotte Saunders Cushman. In 2011, Lapham's Quarterly Magazine reported that while sculpting the statue, Stebbins used Cushman as the model for the angel's body.

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Goofs

The Coke can from which Joe drinks in the 1985 time setting (outside Justice with Lou) has the label "Coca-Cola Classic", rather than "Coke" or "New Coke" (introduced on 23 April that year). The design of the can is from 2002, not 1985.

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Quotes

Harper Pitt: You try to walk out right now I'll put your dinner back in the oven and turn it up so high the whole building will fill with smoke and everyone will asphyxiate. So help me God I will, now answer the question.

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Crazy Credits

Person Generally in Charge of Everything Aaron Geller

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Connections

References Beauty and the Beast (1946)

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Soundtracks

Shall We Gather At The River?
(hymn written in 1864)
Music and Lyrics by Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Performed by Meryl Streep and choir

User Reviews

Astonishingly good

I've written some pretty negative things about American TV and movies on this web site, so maybe it's time to give praise where due. I finally - many years late I'm ashamed to say - got around to watching this HBO mini series because my kids have just appeared in a school production of The Laramie Project, in which Angels in America is mentioned many times, and I felt abysmally ignorant at not having seen it. Thank you Netflix.

I've literally just finished watching the last part, and it's made a deep impression. Very moving, very imaginatively done, beautifully written and superbly acted. Looking back over several years of prior comments on this page, I am just astonished at people who can apparently force themselves to sit through six hours of something they hated! I mean, what part of the on/off switch can't they use? Six hours? Everyone occasionally finds themselves in the cinema sitting through a couple of hours of a film they aren't enjoying, but six hours on the TV at home? People, if you don't like it, or it offends, turn it off! Plenty of brain dead TV offends me. So I don't watch it. Ultimately, it's your free choice.

I'm just a boring, middle aged woman with a couple of teenage kids, probably not the target audience, but I found AinA life affirming, and thought provoking, and I loved the visual imagery and the portrayal of homosexual relationships as just as good/bad/complicated/simple/natural/valid/selfless/selfish as heterosexual relationships. I've always adored Meryl Streep, and she lived up to my expectations here, she's my role model of a talented woman growing older gracefully. Emma Thompson pulled off her role as American angel magnificently, Mary-Louise Parker was a revelation, I was appalled by Roy Cohn, so Al Pacino obviously did a great job, and all the other characters were perfectly cast (especially Jeffrey Wright and Justin Kirk.) I couldn't take my eyes off Jeffrey Wright when he was on screen. Utterly compelling in his portrayal of an upfront gay male nurse, dealing compassionately but practically with the cold reality of dying AIDS patients in his care.

This isn't a particularly easy six hours of TV to watch, but life shouldn't always be easy should it? It's good sometimes to have to struggle a bit to understand someone else's vision. There were many perfect speeches and I'm hoping for a revival of the stage play so I can catch up with those speeches in their original format. I'm still thinking about the line (paraphrased) "Life will be unbearable for a long time before it becomes impossible". Sounds very appropriate for what we are doing to the environment in the 21st century, doesn't it, as well as HIV in the 1980s? So this film is for all times, not just the 1980s.