Trivia / Angels in America

• Acting for Two: The play is written for a cast of eight to perform. It is rather symbolic, particularly when, say, the man who Louis hires to have sex with him in Central Park is played by Prior's actor. Lampshaded when Prior wakes up after having returned the book of Prophecy to Heaven.
• Creator's Favorite Episode: Shortly before his death in 2014, Mike Nichols revealed that he considered the miniseries to be his magnum opus.
• Playing with Character Type: Much like many of Nathan Lane's other roles, Roy Cohn is a snarky, larger-than-life Jerkass. However, while Lane's other roles are often ultimately decent or harmless people, Cohn is portrayed as being downright monstrous.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Several productions have featured queer actors:
  • The original 1993-94 Broadway run starred Stephen Spinella as Prior and Joe Mantello as Louis.
  • A 2010 off-Broadway production starred Zachary Quinto as Louis and Billy Porter as Belize.
  • A 2013 Sydney production featured DeObia Oparei (who’s gay) as Belize.
  • A 2013-14 Toronto production starred Damien Atkins (who’s gay) as Prior and Gregory Prest (who’s gay) as Louis.
  • The 2017 National Theatre production starred Nathan Lane (ironically) as Roy Cohn and Russell Tovey as Joe. When the production transferred to Broadway the following year, Tovey was replaced by Lee Pace. In fact, Pace came out during this time.
  • A 2018 Berkeley production starred Randy Harrison as Prior, Stephen Spinella as Roy Cohn, and Bob The Drag Queen as Belize.
• Role Reprise: After winning a Tony for originating the part on Broadway, Jeffrey Wright went on to play Belize again in the HBO production, winning him an Emmy for the role as well.
• Star-Making Role: This is, as cited by the man himself, the production that gave a then baby-faced Broadway actor named Patrick Wilson a Hollywood career. As he put it, the miniseries showed producers and casting directors that he could hold his own amongst a slate of Hollywood heavyweights.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Robert Altman and Neil LaBute were considered to direct the miniseries. It was Altman who first attracted Al Pacino to the role of Roy Cohn.
  • Tony Kushner originally wanted Dustin Hoffman to play Roy Cohn in the miniseries.
  • Jodie Foster was considered for Nurse Emily/The Angel America in the miniseries.
  • Adrien Brody was seriously considered for the role of Louis, but he finally removed himself from consideration because of his discomfort with the fact that he would have to perform sexual scenes with another male actor.
  • Billy Crudup was first offered the role of Joe Pitt but turned it down. Tim Robbins was also considered.

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