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Light the candelabra, Liberace is coming to the big screen!
Over twenty years after his death, the life of entertainer Liberace will finally be told in a major motion picture with an A-list director and cast. Steven Soderbergh, the Oscar-winning director of Traffic, is in the early stages of developing a biopic, which he will direct, and he's recruited Michael Douglas to play the pianist. Also in talks to participate is another Oscar winner:
"Soderbergh is in discussions with Matt Damon to play Scott Thorson, who sued Liberace in 1982 for $113 million in palimony, claiming he was the entertainer’s companion for five years. Even though Liberace never wavered from career-long denials that he was gay, Thorson reportedly settled for $95,000 in 1986."
Michael Douglas, Steven Soderbergh, Matt Damon
This isn't the first time that Liberace's story has been told. Back in the late 80's, there were "dueling" biopics on network TV. The "authorized" (as in "whitewashed") version starred Andrew Robinson, and the "unauthorized" (as in "more honest") version had Victor Garber as Liberace. I'm not sure about Michael Douglas, though. I don't know if I could buy him in the role, but we'll see. Actually, when I first heard about it, the name that instantly came to mind was Hugh Jackman. He's already proven he can play a flamboyant entertainer (Peter Allen), and I think he'd bring more vitality to the role. We'd like to hear your thoughts. Would you go see a biopic about Liberace, and who would you like to see play the iconic (for better or worse) entertainer? Submitted by on Thu, 2008-09-11 10:23. |
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And do you know who wrote the Victor Garber version?
Gavin Lambert!
It was quite good.
Interesting to see what Soderbergh will come up with, but Michael Douglas(!?!!??)
Why not Garber again?
Let me second that!
Maybe, but he's doing other things now --
Like George Moscone in Milk.
Actually you know who would be perfect for the part? Kevin Spacey. He's the right ag, could do all the moves and he knows everything about the closet.
Michael Douglas had played
Michael Douglas on Will & Grace
Michael Douglas?
Michael Douglas?
I can see it now: in this version, Liberace (Michael Douglas) comes home to find Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) shouting "I will NOT be ignored, Lee" while boiling Liberace's rabbit-fur cape.
Sometimes I find...
...the thought of straight men playing gay roles to be akin to 'blackface' or using prosthetics to create asian eye features. It doesn't always irk me. Just in some cases where it would seem to come off as more of a joke, or done to show, "Look how progressive I am! See what I'm doing?" The whole of Too Wong Foo... was like that for me.
Michael Douglas is another one of those cases for me. My first reaction is, "Ewwwwwwww...." He's never proven himself to be any type of character actor - certainly not to any point where he's got the chops to make me forget he's 'Michael Douglas' on screen. And that's pretty much the definition of 'leading man' (like Tom Cruise, Rock Hudson, Brad Pitt, etc...) in my dictionary. They're good at what they do, but you'll never find a second of screen time where you go, "I didn't even recognize him!" You always know who they really are while you're watching.
Liberace was such a unique character in real life. It would take a character actor (not a leading man like Michael Douglas) with acting chops like Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman or even Philip Seymour Hoffman.
I'm not suggesting any of them for the role. Only that I think it would take an actor who can make you completely forget who's really behind the make-up and the dialect, and not make the portrayal seem like a parody of the real man.
Michael Douglas has never done anything in his career that would lead me to believe he has the acting skills to pull this off.
_________________________________________
-Sibelius
"It's curtains for you, Dr. Horrible. Lacy, wafting curtains..."
Michael Douglas has a limited range, but...
...within that range, he can do some good stuff: Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Wall Street, Wonder Boys. But I don't think that range extends to playing one of the most flamboyant entertainers in history; problem is, they need a "name" to sell the film to the masses. I like the suggestion of Hugh Jackman, and Gary Oldman is interesting.
Check out my blog: http://radicalsexy.blogspot.com/
Hugh Jackman
I like Hugh Jackman for a number of reasons. He's very 'gay-friendly', he did a great job in The Boy From Oz and for my tatses, he's pretty to look at. I'm not too keen on the idea of turning to him whenever there's a need for a 'name' to play a gay role, however.
First of all, he's straight. Regardless of how much I respect his work, I think it sets a bad precedent to automatically jump to the most 'gay-friendly' straight men to guarantee box office. I'm very happy that he's a huge gay icon (particularly in the theater community), but something doesn't sit right with me in terms of a straight man being so strongly associated as gay (in terms of roles). It rings false with me.
Secondly, his 'look' is wrong for Liberace (I think). That's just a personal opinion.
I'm more keen on Victor Garber, but I don't think he's the best choice for a mainstream movie, and there are probably better actors that we haven't thought of yet. Besides, I'm really liking the direction his career is going with Eli Stone and I'm not sure that the timing would be so great to do a Liberace movie right now- again, just my opinion.
_________________________________________
-Sibelius
"It's curtains for you, Dr. Horrible. Lacy, wafting curtains..."