Steven Soderbergh is a very busy man, with Haywire and The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg in the can and Contagion shooting, with projects such as The Man From UNCLE lined up for him to take on, we never thought there would be time for him to sneak in Liberace. His long in-development project on the famous entertainer may finally be ready to go according to the two actors Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.
In speaking to the Hollywood Reporter Douglas said:
I’ve got a bunch of tapes of performances… I’m thinking; I’m a blank slate. Everything shows me he was a lovely man; I just want to reconfirm that.
As many of you know, Douglas (who will play Liberace) is on the road to recovery after suffering from throat cancer but the fact that he is considering future projects is a very good sign that he is good to go. Which is a relief. Matt Damon has also confirmed these reports on Douglas:
I’ve talked to Michael and everything’s on schedule for him, which is great. So we’ve all cleared our schedules and are all really excited about that happening. And then the fall’s wide open.
Damon will play Liberace’s lover Scott Thorson, the real life Thorson wrote the book on which the film will be based. With a script which is ready to go for shooting, which rumours suggest will be around June onwards.
I for one am really looking forward to this, I am a fan of Soderbergh’s work and any project he puts his name to I will be interested in seeing. His work with these two actors has also been interesting, Douglas’ performance in Traffic is among the actor’s finest roles and playing Liberace will definitely be something new for him. This also looks to be a change of subject matter and style for Soderbergh, who seems to be littering his resume with thrillers recently, but as any who saw Che will know his biopics are fascinating, well crafted films.