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Steven Soderbergh reveals the stars of new Liberace film

Posted Sep 30, 2009

Michael Douglas & Matt Damon are the two unlikely names to play Liberace and his reputed lover in this forthcoming Warner film.

The industry is buzzing as film director Soderbergh reveals his casting decisions for the as yet untitled forthcoming biopic of entertainer Liberace. To a French newspaper at the Deauville Film Festival Soderbergh said,

“We’ve already done some costume and wardrobe tests on Michael, and they’re very, very, very good.”

“I swear to you, Michael amazed me. He crushed it.”

Matt Damon, Soderbergh went on to reveal, has agreed to portray Scott Thorson, Liberace's "assistant/boyfriend" whose 1982 palimony suit for $110 million publically outed the entertainer who refused throughout his life to confirm the gay rumours that surrounded him.

During the 1950s and 1970s Liberace was the world's highest paid entertainer. Respected for this piano playing, his grandiose performances however, often left him at the mercy of the critics. Not one to hide away from a bad review - some of Liberace's finest quotes come from his responses to a critic's tongue lashing.

His first recorded in a letter to a critic reads as follows,

"Thank you for your very amusing review. After reading it, in fact, my brother George and I cried all the way to the bank."

In an appearance on The Tonight Show some years later, Liberace re-ran the anecdote to Johnny Carson, and finished it by saying,

"I don't cry all the way to the bank any more - I bought the bank."

A revenge tactic, perhaps we all wish we could use.

The BBC documentary above reveals how Liberace rose from a humble background, son of a French Horn player to world fame. Liberace died in 1987 of complications from AIDS at the age of 67.

To read more about the site www.liberace.com.

Kerry Olsen

Source: Film Drunk & Warner Bros

Photo Credits: Liberace

 

 

TAGS: liberace steven soderbergh liberace warner pictures music hollywood biopic michael douglas matt damon warner bros film cinema

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