Tony Nominee Michael Arden Will Make His Feature Film Directing Debut in The Book of Ruth

Michael Arden, who was Tony nominated for directing the revivals of Spring Awakening (2016) and Once on This Island (2018), will make his feature film debut directing The Book of Ruth, a new movie about Ruth Coker Burks, a champion caregiver and activist during the AIDS crisis.

Written by Rebecca Pollock and Kas Graham, The Book of Ruth will star Matt Bomer and two-time Tony nominee Ruth Wilson. Wilson, who was nominated for playing Cordelia/the Fool last year in King Lear, will play Burks. Bomer, who made his Broadway debut in 2018 in a revival of The Boys in the Band, will play a gay New Yorker who flees the city during the AIDS epidemic. Ryan Murphy, who is also producing the Netflix film adaptation of The Boys in the Band with Bomer, will produce the film. The film shoot is scheduled for this year, and no release date has been announced.

“It’s a great honor and privilege to tell this important story about the responsibility one human has to another, especially in a time of crisis,” Arden said in a statement. “As a gay man, I feel that Ruth’s story of empathy in the face of great prejudice and adversary is one so needed in our modern time. It is vital for us to remember that we lost an entire generation to the AIDS epidemic and that so many people, including Ruth, sacrificed their own comfort, station and livelihood to help those in need during this plague."