I was reading an article about the new Matt Damon movie (he plays Liberace’s boyfriend). My reaction-who is going to watch this? I mean, Liberace was liked by (mostly) middle-aged women-and he’s been gone for a long time. What makes the promoters think that this will appeal to the 18-25 audience?
I find the premise totally weird-it’s not like people didn’t know that Liberace was gay-so why, decades later, do they think there will be any interest in such a movie?
If you don’t think there are people who want to watch Matt Damon tongue-kiss Michael Douglas, then you and I obviously don’t go to the same gym.
La Vie en Rose, Shine, La Bamba, Amadeus, Ray, Coal Miners Daughter, Walk the Line all won Oscars or Golden Globes. And The Doors, Sid and Nancy, Bird, Beyond the Sea and Selena are pretty well regarded. People like musician bio-pics, even those for musicians who have fallen from their previous popularity (how many hardcore fans did Richie Valens have in 1987?). So I don’t think there’s any “WTF” factor here, its a type of film that’s proven successful.
And a Liberace movie has the extra hook of its subjects closeted sexuality. With a lot of people interested in the history of LGBT issues, that will probably draw in crowds as well.
I doubt it will be the next Avatar, but its not hard to see why the Producers think there will be an audience for the movie.
There would be quite a few of those middle-aged female Liberace fans who would appreciate a bit of boy-with-boy action, too.
Seeing A class actors doing an interesting and unusual relationship involving compelling personalities would be potentially be interesting to watch.
As a side note the casting surprised me. I thought Michael Douglas was really ill, practically on death’s door a year or so ago.
They probably don’t think it will appeal to an 18-25 year old audience, but that’s not the only audience there is. This is a made for cable movie, not something that’s expected to be a big summer blockbuster in the theaters. I believe 25 year olds are at the younger end of “the demo” for television, not the upper end.
I would also assume that there are plenty of people who don’t give a damn about Liberace but would be very interested in seeing Matt Damon in nothing but a thong (link goes to Entertainment Weekly article, no thong pics) or doing gay sex scenes.
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I would also assume that there are plenty of people who don’t give a damn about Liberace but would be very interested in seeing Matt Damon in nothing but a thong (link goes to Entertainment Weekly article, no thong pics) or doing gay sex scenes.
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They seem to work in some anecdote about the sex scenes and Damon’s nudity whenever doing publicity for it.
I’ll watch it- I’ve always thought Liberace was a fascinating social phenomenon. I thought choosing Damon was odd casting though; among other things, he’s 42 years old playing a character who was Liberace’s companion from his late teens to his early 20s.
Maybe it’s told as a flashback, with Damon’s character being older (i.e. Matt Damon’s actual age) in the framing scenes?
My heart beat a little faster when I heard who was in it, and I barely know who Liberace is.
I thought so too. Guess I was misinformed.
It was supposed to have a theatrical release, but Soderberg couldn’t get any studios interested.
As for the subject, he’s a truly great director. He managed to make a really enjoyable film about a male strip club (naked Olivia Munn compensated very well for the naked guys), so I have no doubt that he’ll make a really enjoyable film about Liberace.
Though it is for HBO. So it’s not like a cheesy made for TV Lifetime movie. It should at least be quality, especially with Soderbergh as director.
Guaranteed gay audience.
Liberace was brilliant on the piano. But he sucked on the organ.
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I thought Michael Douglas was really ill, practically on death’s door a year or so ago.
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Well, Liberace’s dead, so it works out. 
I think the tabloid’s had him dead and buried but the doctor’s had a second opinion. Seeing him on interviews, though, it’s amazing (appalling?) how much he looks like his dad looked just a few years ago; he’s really aged even since Wall Street 2 (or whatever it was officially called).
This project has been Soderbergh’s baby for years. At one time Robin Williams was attached. Perhaps it will be successful and the Liberace Museum can re-open for a moment. (Last I heard they were going to some casino and also funding a travelign display, though I’ve no idea if that came to pass.)
Liberace was gay?!
I’m dying to see this for all the above reasons. Why NOT make a movie about such an interesting couple? Does everything have to be comic books and spacemen and vomiting frat boys? … Plus gay sex scenes!
Besides, I read Scott Thorson’s book and I want to see all the wretched, over the top excess of Liberace’s life laid out onscreen. Pity the museum in Las Vegas closed.
Scott Thorson is a pathetic person and a pathological liar. He’s lied about his age so much I don’t think even he remembers the truth, and he swears that he is now and has always been straight but said the loves of his life were Liberace and Michael Jackson (who he had an affair with in London, he claims, in the early '80s, at a time when there’s evidence neither of them was in London, let alone together). He’s been a drug addict since the late '70s (that’s what got eventually him evicted from the Liberaceverse) and was shot 5 times in a robbery that might have been (legitimately) an assassination attempt by Eddie Nash (who he testified against because, due to his drug addiction, he had direct info about the Wonderland murders). Many of the claims he made about Liberace are contradicted by evidence (including where he was at various times, who he associated with when he wasn’t on stage, financial dealings, etc.) and the more outlandish claims are things that only he was no evidence for (e.g. that Michael Jackson once came to see him dressed as Diana Ross, or that Liberace tearfully reconciled with him in his final week [when he was usually in a coma and always non-verbal]).
It’s not surprising that his claims get more outlandish the older he gets. In his 50s he’s still trying to sponge off of a connection to Liberace and by extension the Vegas entertainment creme that ended 30 years, and until this movie I’m guessing the sponge had gotten pretty dry as namedropping has a short half life.
I’m wondering how they filtered the info from Thorson’s version into something more plausible.
It is AMAZING how much in denial some people were about that. In the '50s he was voted “Most Eligible Bachelor” several times and his wavy hair was mentioned in the song Mr. Sandman.
Wait – are you saying his hair wasn’t really wavy!!!
Wait wait wait… Liberace was a man???
“All movies have to appeal to teenagers” is one of those idiotic statements that requires all of three seconds on Google to disprove. The fact that some people still buy it astounds me.