I was surprised when I heard this (he was on Oprah this week so it’s been in the news) but apparently the project’s been in development for years. I used to enjoyed the campiness of Liberace when he was alive and I’ve liked some of Soderbergh’s work, but considering that
-The Liberace Museum closed last yeardue to insufficient attendance to meet overhead
-Liberace died years before most current college students (i.e. big movie demo age) were born
-Liberace’s fan base when he was alive was mostly middle aged to old women (not an often targeted movie audience demo plus his original fans would be ancient now)
-Douglas, Damon and mega glitz and even artificial chinchilla are cheap thus this is not a low budget movie
I have to say it’s a project I wouldn’t invest the 401K in.
I would be interested in seeing it if it dealt in a thoughtful way with Liberace’s conflictedness about his sexuality. I mean on the one hand he was next door to a drag queen in the way he dressed, but on the other he steadfastly denied he was gay to his dying breath (as far as the public knows, anyway). Was he just a canny performer who knew that ambiguity sells? Was he the victim of internalized homophobia? Does anyone really know (who can be relied on to tell the truth as best they know it)?
If it’s just going to be a campy sendup of a campy performer, not so much.
Roddy
I wouldn’t be surprised if Liberace somehow convinced himself he was straight even as he was having sex with rent boys.
The biographies of him I’ve read imply that he was largely if not completely celibate while his mother was alive and then went “It’s rainin’ men!” after she died in 1980. He went through a promiscuous phase when he was in his early 60s when, he had no way of knowing, it was the absolute worst possible time to be promiscuous (the dawn of the first AIDS outbreak).
I can see it. Musical biopics are in. Campy showmanship and midcentury entertainment are seeing a bit of a nostalgia thing. And Liberace is practically the consumate closet case (not to mention a narcissest of terrifying proportions) – I think that’s a psychology that could play well on the screen.
It’s like Ray mixed with Capote, with camp.
Might be a tough sell for most, but I’ll watch it.
Dunno, I’m betting the movie is horrid but might be so bad it’s good? 1% chance? IIRC, Liberace had no shortage of cameo’s or gratuitious scenes when alive.
I digress but I was in Hong Kong in 1986, in some rat infested hostel that cost a couple dollars a night. A group of us low rent types were watching the nightly English language movie. It was the story of a group of special needs kids who had the dream that if they did a Liberace tribute musical on stage, that Liberace would join them. Absolutely mindbogglingly unreal but at the end Liberace is in the audience and then he does join them on stage.
I know I mention it every time we talk about Liberace, but I loved this book, which is a serious look at him – and which I think Soderbergh is basing this on. I like him, I like Michael Douglas, and I like Matt Damon.
So, yeah, I’m looking forward to this, and I expect it to be a good movie.
If I were the producer, I’d be somewhat cautions about investing a lot of money knowing that the star has might not make it thru filming. Howdya insure someone like that?
Can Michael Douglas play piano? It will be a lousy casting if he has to fake throughout. If he can actually play like Jamie Foxx did in Ray he will be fine.
I hope the movie is mostly about Liberace’s later life, because at the peak of his career he was quite a lot younger than Douglas’ current age (late 60s). Perhaps they can use Douglas’ older son for the early scenes . . . though I understand he’s booked for the next several years.
Special People from 1984, based on the life of Diane Dupuy and her efforts to create “The Famous PEOPLE Players”, a troupe of developmentally challenged shadow-puppeteers. Their Liberace bit was highlighted in the film (no doubt because the film-makers had managed to secure Liberace’s agreement to play himself in it) but they did other routines as well.
Because we had some sheet music from it, it’s always stuck in my head that Liberace appeared in When the Boys Meet the Girls, performing “Aruba Liberace”.
Actually, according to iMDB he had very few “legitimate” movie parts, this being one of less than a dozen appearances, although he frequently appeared on TV.
I think the former sounds quite interesting, and it seems that’s what they’re going for, but I’d really like to see a quality, non-campy Ray-type biopic about the height of his career. Showing both the shrewd businessman and the over-the-top performer, with his legions of fans and his love for his Polish mother and his way-deep-in-the closet denial.
