How Executive Producer Cary Brokaw Took Angels in America from Development Hell to Development Heaven

by Chael Needle

Over ten years have passed between the time Angels in America first wowed theater audiences with its wit and grandeur and now, when it is set to premiere as a film on HBO. In Hollywood time, this sort of development lag is pretty much par for the course. But so much has happened in the world of AIDS, one has to wonder if Angels, which, following the play, is pretty much all set in the mid-eighties, is now old news. There has always been a sense of urgency in AIDS art; as in activism, there?s little time to wait for those who can make a difference to change their hearts and minds. ?Someday soon? doesn?t quite cut it when lives are at stake. So, why a film version of Angels today?

One answer might be that Angels reminds us that the more things change, the more they stay the same. ?It?s very much of the period without being solely about the period,? says Cary Brokaw, the film?s executive producer. ?The more we worked on it and rehearsed it, the more we all felt there was an incredible resonance to the world today. In a strange way, the film almost made Angels more powerful than it was in the early nineties when it was first performed.? Asked to explain, he continues: ?I think the times we live in are similar in many ways. AIDS has evolved [in such a way that] it is still a crisis. It is now a global crisis. The threat has not gone away. You can draw many analogies to the political climate that Tony [Kushner] writes about in the eighties to the climate today. The overall tenuousness of life is something people feel as much today as they did in the eighties. The themes of the play?truth and kindness; politics, both personal and societal?have great meaning today.? Perhaps Angels in America is needed now more than ever?a history lesson that doesn?t feel historical.

Wisely, the creators of the film did not go the route of those VH-1 I Love the 80s specials and pepper Angels with Culture Club songs, skinny leather ties, or Krystle Carrington shoulder pads. Says Brokaw: ?We wanted to be true to the period, but we didn?t want to make it about the fashion or about the visual landscape. The foreground is what we paid attention to.?

Another answer to the question ?why today?? might lie with Hollywood, whose film community has really only weighed-in on the AIDS crisis with one major-studio film, Philadelphia. From his insider perspective, Brokaw offers a more measured response: ?Hollywood in general has trouble with difficult subject matter. And AIDS is difficult subject matter, from their standpoint. But AIDS is a part of our world, and it must not be ignored. That?s one of the reasons why Angels has so much to offer an audience. It deals with those realities...and puts them in a context that?s dramatic and entertaining and full of ideas. I think the fact that a wide audience can see that...has to open people?s minds?and in a way that?s productive and good.?

And the answer to ?why today??certainly has nothing to do with a lack of persistence on the part of Brokaw, the executive producer behind 2001?s Emmy-winning Wit. It?s been a labor of love for him since two friends, in separate instances, raved about a workshop reading of the first part of Angels. He tracked it down and read it. Says Brokaw: ?I was completely knocked out by what I read. I thought it represented a tremendous new voice.? Throughout his career he has championed artistically challenging projects: Brokaw is the president and CEO of Avenue Entertainment Group, and has executive-produced such films as Drugstore Cowboy, Path to War, and Normal. Angels definitely fit the bill.

Brokaw met Tony Kushner, but didn?t pursue his film proposal until he saw it again in the West End, in London. ?Tony was understandably consumed with making it work as a play, so he sort of pooh-poohed the idea,? says Brokaw,. ?When I learned from Tony about Perestroika, I was all the more interested and excited about the prospect of not one but two movies based on Angels,? he says. ?Apart from the fact that I thought it was brilliant, dramatic, full of ideas and humor, and full of provocative drama, it was also very cinematic at its core.? As Prior Walter says in the play version: ?Very Steven Spielberg.?

Finally, Brokaw broke through to Kushner. A hypothetical question soon followed: Who would be your first choice as a director if you could work with anyone? Kushner offered Robert Altman. At the time, Cary was producing Robert Altman?s The Player; in no time at all, Altman saw a preview in Los Angeles, fell in love with it, and signed on, as well. Both were working with New Line Cinema on the release of The Player and the upcoming production of Short Cuts so they put it into development at that company. Tony Kushner adapted screenplays, working with Altman and Brokaw, and, says Brokaw, ?it started its life as a potential film at that stage.?

?As it played out, New Line balked at making two movies. They were wary of having a sequel to a film that might not work,? says Cary. Altman went on to direct other projects. ?As much as he loved and admired it, Bob never really?and I think he?d say this, too?found a way to make it his own, as he tends to do with the films he directs. That being the case, Tony and I agreed with Bob to part ways, and did so as friends.? Around this time, Brokaw approached Al Pacino to play Roy Cohn. Pacino had seen the play performed, was excited to tackle this part, and made a point to keep his hat in the ring over the years.

Before Altman departed, they were in talks with HBO, and other directors began the process, but nothing ever materialized until Brokaw started pre-production in London on Wit, starring Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) and directed by Mike Nichols (The Birdcage). Nichols and Brokaw would drive everyday to and from Pinewood Studios, where most of Wit was shot. ?One day, Angels came up as one of the things I was working on. Mike had seen Millennium in New York, loved it, but never saw Perestroika. I asked if he would like to read it and he said sure.? Brokaw placed a copy in his hands, and went off for the weekend. ?To my happy astonishment, on Monday morning when [Mike] got in the car, he had a grin from ear to ear. I asked him what he was smiling about. He said, ?Well, I read Angels and it?s remarkable.? Half-kiddingly, I asked him if we should do it and he looked at me and said, ?Yeah, let?s do it.??

The wait was worth it, thinks Brokaw, who says that they were ?fortunate to get this group of actors? and the full support of HBO, and fortunate that Nichols signed on. ?Mike has an ability to mine and realize irony, humor, and a real truth in every aspect of human behavior, which I think aligned beautifully with what Tony wrote,? says Brokaw. ?He brought just the right sensibility, whether to the visual effects of the Angel flying or to the most intimate moments of drama.? Brokaw is happy with the result: ?I think it?s something that will stand the test of time.? So, maybe the question to ask about Angels in America is not ?why today?? but ?why tomorrow??

Chael Needle interviewed Tionne ?T-Boz? Watkins and Rozonda ?Chilli? Thomas of TLC for the September issue.

December 2003