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FILM 1105: BEHIND THE CANDELABRA

TRIVIA: In 'Scott Thorson''s book "Behind the Candelabra", he notes that "In celebrity-saturated Palm Springs only two stars...took the trouble to pay their last respects" at the memorial service for Liberace. One was actress Charlene Tilton, and the other was Kirk Douglas, father of Michael Douglas.

In a January 2013 interview with the New York Post, director Steven Soderbergh said that this movie was originally planned for a theatrical release but was ultimately produced by and aired on HBO instead because the story was "too gay" for Hollywood movie studios: "Nobody would make it, We went to everybody in town. They all said it was too gay. And this is after Brokeback Mountain (2005), by the way, which is not as funny as this movie. I was stunned. It made no sense to any of us."

In May 2013, the New York Times reported that Scott Thorson received a little less than $100,000 for his participation with this movie, and that he spent all of that money "in about two months, mostly on cars and jewelry."

Michael Douglas was older at the time of filming than Liberace was when he died. Although played by 42-year-old Matt Damon, Scott Thorson was only a teenager when he met Liberace, and 23 when their relationship ended in April 1982. He was still only in his twenties when Liberace died.

In a May 2013 interview with Entertainment Weekly magazine, Rob Lowe described the makeup regimen used to transform him into the heavily plastic-surgeried Dr. Jack Startz: "It's tape and pulled behind my head. It's literally what they used to do in the early days of cinema before there were facelifts for actresses. You know, Joan Crawford, her whole career was this. You tape, you pull around the back of the head, but you have to have a wig because it covers the elastic. We did that, and I'm also wearing a dental piece and then I'm doing a couple of things, a couple of tricks with my own face, the way I'm holding it. Then of course the makeup is literally like Earl Scheib autobody paint sprayed on my face....It was actually really painful, because being pulled that long and that hard for a 12-hour day - it gave me migraines. We shot during the summer. It was unbelievably hot. The wig, being pulled, it was definitely not the most comfortable experience physically for sure."

Ironically Debbie Reynolds was a close friend of the real Liberace, and was familiar with the real Scott Thorson and Francis Liberace. Reynolds claimed that she was thrilled to play Francis, as she was very familiar with her peculiar dialect.

Robin Williams was originally set to play Liberace.

The movie was given a cinema release in the UK and Europe, but was broadcast on television in the US.

The Liberace Foundation (in Las Vegas) owns many of the original portraits from the pianist's famous home. However, the paintings which appear in the film are all recreations, with the original facial features altered to resemble Michael Douglas.