How many Film Stage readers are Liberace fans? Raise your hand please.
…
…
Yeah me either, but in watching old YouTube clips and his appearance at Wrestlemania I, I’ve come to respect the showmanship (not so much the music). A life that prolific and extravagent begs for a movie adaptation, and we’re getting one; Steven Soderbergh will be directing a biopic based on the vein pianist that will start shooting in May or June of 2011. [/Film]
Who confirmed this? The star himself, Michael Douglas. Douglas, who has been suffering through treatment for throat cancer, seems like he is hungry to jump back into films, and Liberace seems like an intriguing choice. He’s certainly committed; by the time the movie starts shooting, Douglas will trained and ready to go on the piano, and will be using prosthetics to look more like the real-life person. Considering he’s still recovering day by day, that’s a lot to take on but I don’t doubt his ability to do it.
Matt Damon will be playing Liberace’s lover Scott Thorson, who’s book Behind The Candlelabra (My Life with Liberace) served as the basis for the script by Richard LaGravenese. No idea on the release, but if the movie starts shooting in the summer, it’s an obvious bet it’ll drop in 2012. And I’m certainly interested in it, both story-wise and to see what Soderbergh does with the material.
Any interest in the Liberace biopic or Michael Douglas’ return post-throat cancer treatment?