New "Liberace" bio Premiers Tonight HBO

[bcohen7719]

Of interest?

 

BC

 

[video=youtube;fp3wAyRf15c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp3wAyRf15c

[Guest verymarried]

yeah a LOT of interest here. Do you happen to know how I can catch this in the future, if not tonight? - I don't think I have HBO on my ATT UVERS contract.

[JT Brooklyn]

It does look to be an Over the Top Production which of course Liberace was!

 

Matt Damon in the White Speedo Looking Hot for a Daddy of 5 Kids!

 

Rob Lowe looking like alot of NYC Plastic Surgeons! The casting of Scott Bakula though?

 

I'm sure this will get alot of Replay!

[+ deej]

Do you happen to know how I can catch this in the future, if not tonight? - I don't think I have HBO on my ATT UVERS contract.

 

HBO tends to like to get as many viewers as possible for their movies so I'd bet this ends up on DVD (and therefore on PPV and Netflix) fairly quickly.

 

It's interesting that none of the Hollywood studios would touch this movie which is why it landed at HBO. They'll spend millions producing and promoting dreck like "Magic Mike", but the oogie gay story is still taboo.

[+ WilliamM]

Mixed feeling. Do many people care about Liberace anymore? I am sorry he died from AIDS, but that's about it.

[fedssocr1]

It's gotten fairly mixed reviews from what I have seen. Salon seemed to like it. Washington Post, not so much.

[seeker630]

Mixed feeling. Do many people care about Liberace anymore? I am sorry he died from AIDS, but that's about it.

 

I don't think you have to have been a fan to be interested in the story.

[Guest verymarried]

So how was this production? I don't have HBO on my Package. Is it worth getting HBO to see this?

[JT Brooklyn]

As I thought Scott Bakula Casting not very interesting. Rob Lowes "Look very LaLaLand" for Men of a certain age..very entertaining..

 

I guess Thorsen got the last laugh as he is alive and well in Reno (sort of) and will reap alot more than $75K from this!

 

I had totally forgotten about this Gay Drama..Google Scott Thorsen it's an interesting tale~BUT not a Happy Ending for Thorsen!

[seeker630]

I enjoyed it. I thought the acting was good and the story interesting. Rob Lowe's makeup has to be seen to be believed - he reminded me of Michael Jackson, at one point.

 

It did seem a bit 'jumpy' toward the end, as they used short scenes to show several specific events.

 

Not a great movie, but entertaining (even though I had no real interest in Liberace as a performer.)

[dfw2sfo]

It was very sad and made me sad for all involved. Several nice ass shots of Damon who is still beefy. Interesting though, Thorson was 18 or so when he and Liberace met and Damon, while hot, is not 18.

[uwsman2]

I thought Michael Douglas was fantastically amusing as Liberace, and Damon -- although, as noted, a bit too old for the role -- did a fine job. Debbie Reynolds as Liberace's mother was fantastic!!! (And she knew Liberace; in recent interviews, she has told the press that everybody knew he was gay, but they all pretended they didn't for his sake.) Rob Lowe's make-up was totally gross-out.

 

I thought the pacing was a bit odd at times, sometimes too slow and ponderous, then towards the end kind of breathless. But the on-stage scenes with Douglas in his fantastic get-up and the piano-playing bits helped to convey some of the excitement and charm that Liberace created for his mainly elderly female admirers.

 

Oh, and I was much taken with Cheyene Jackson's cameo toward the beginning as the outgoing lover.... Nice to have an openly gay actor playing at least one important role in this. But I don't think it's worth subscribing to HBO just to see it. As noted above, HBO eventually makes things available for purchase on DVD, and I'm sure it will be available for streaming from all the usual places before long.

[foxy]

When I was a very little kid my mother would sometimes leave me with her friend to babysit me while she did some errands. This woman was a huge Liberace fan. I remember sitting on the floor playing with my toys when she turned on her b&w set to watch his show. She would kneel in front of the set and when he came on the screen she would lean forward and kiss his face. Even then I thought it very strange. He probably wasn't a great pianist but he was my introduction to classical music.

 

Many years later when he was doing his last performances at Radio City Music Hall I bought a ticket way up in the balcony. I had never seen a live performance and I thought I would laugh my head off. The thing I realized soon on, after he made his entrance flying in on wires wearing a huge ostrich feather cape was that he was laughing at himself. It was the classic "you aren't laughing at me but with me". He put on an amazing show. I didn't realize it at the time but when he made an entrance with the mirrored Rolls Royce it was no doubt Scott his lover dressed as the chauffeur. Shortly after his 56 sold out performances he died of AIDS. All I can say is that he worked his ass off entertaining his audience. I didn't come away as a fan but as someone who appreciated the amount of hard work he put into his shows. His audience loved him and they were not just old blue haired ladies but lots of pretty young people.

 

A few years later I was in Las Vegas and went to his museum before it closed. It was in a little strip mall several minutes drive from the strip. I remember chandeliers hanging from acoustical tile ceilings and many of his costumes, cars, pianos and jewelry, all very crazy but fascinating. These costumes looked liked they weighed a ton but he managed to parade them around the stage liked they were nothing. You had to admire his strength.

 

At one time he was the highest paid performer in Las Vegas. He paved the way for so many performers to come both gay and straight.

[+ deej]

He probably wasn't a great pianist but he was my introduction to classical music.

 

He was no Paderewski (his idol, by the way) but he was quite accomplished even before becoming "Liberace".

 

With your memories, you'd probably enjoy reading Thorsen's book of the same name as the movie.

[foxy]

Scott Thorsen is serving time in the Washoe County jail according to an article in the May 10th, Style's section of the NY Times. Doesn't look like he's getting rich from the book or this movie.

[JT Brooklyn]

One of Liberace's Famous Lines.."They Love Me at the Bank"! They most definitely did for Year's!

[+ Axiom2001]

I enjoyed it. I thought the acting was good and the story interesting. Rob Lowe's makeup has to be seen to be believed - he reminded me of Michael Jackson, at one point.

 

It did seem a bit 'jumpy' toward the end, as they used short scenes to show several specific events.

 

Not a great movie, but entertaining (even though I had no real interest in Liberace as a performer.)

 

I concur with what you wrote about Rob Lowe, a man whom I found to be rather handsome and enticing in years past and your last sentence.

Yesterday I caught the film in the middle and watched to its end. When it's repeated I will definitely watch the beginning up and to where I

came in yesterday.

[Diverdan]

I saw it twice and although I missed the first fifteen minutes both times, I must say that I enjoyed the movie. I had a good friend who was one of Liberace's boys for awhile, but he realized early on what the score was, and I don't mean the piano score, and he got out while he was still sane and did not sucumb to the drugs, etc. As many have indicated, "almost everyone in the industry" knew that he was gay, but he was such a great entertainer and paved the way for so many others, that they were reluctant to give him much grief for his lies about his sexuality and his prowess with women. I thought the movie could have been a bit better, especially toward the end, but it was fun to see Matt Damon and MIchael Douglas do so well in what had to be difficult roles, especially the sex scenes !! I was very disappointed in Rob Lowe, but I guess that is how the director wanted to deal with the plastic surgeon. Anyway, enjoy the movie for what it is and not what it is not. No academy awards here, that would take Ing Lee's touch.

[JT Brooklyn]

Most "Sugar Daddys" in Time usually end up looking for something Sweeter!

 

Unfortunately most of the YOUNG Sweet Things don't realize it until AFTER THE FACT!

[operalover21]

It's gotten fairly mixed reviews from what I have seen. Salon seemed to like it. Washington Post, not so much.

 

It was a huge hit at Cannes and got nothing but great reviews there. Everyone thought that Michael Douglas was going to win Best Actor. I think it's very well done and Damon really bulked up for the role ....

[foxy]

There was a time when it would have been career suicide for a straight actor to play a gay role. Even most gay actors would have avoided those roles. At least there has been some progress there and the act of two men kissing (straight or gay) does not bring the world to and end. Michael Douglas was recently on the cover of New York Magazine and gave a really good interview on playing Liberace and also dealing with cancer and his son in prison.

[Jscott]

Douglas was remarkably affecting and convincing. I agree with those who found Soderbergh's pacing uneven (though he deserves kudos for pushing to get the film made without pulling punches). I do wish they'd filmed some of the truly legendary orgies at the Liberace homestead (oh how I fondly recall the blue-haired keepers of the flame at the Museum, shaking their heads primly at any mention of his sexuality). Some truly incisive moments (Damon almost broke my heart at one point when Liberace was talking about being a father to Thorson and he just grabbed him in a bear hug).

[operalover21]

And it got the biggest ratings for a movie on HBO in over 9 years!

[+ Gar1eth]

It does look to be an Over the Top Production which of course Liberace was!

 

Matt Damon in the White Speedo Looking Hot for a Daddy of 5 Kids!

 

Rob Lowe looking like alot of NYC Plastic Surgeons! The casting of Scott Bakula though?

 

I'm sure this will get alot of Replay!

I haven't seen the movie, but I love Scott Bakula- always have.

 

Gman

[Guest verymarried]

I'm no film critic, and I know he is highly thought of, but I usually don't "get" Soderbergh. I just watched another of his movies called Side Effects with a truly all star cast and a potentially intriguing story line. I felt that the director (Soderbergh) somehow missed the boat on the film, but maybe it was my problem. I am glad he seems to have pulled off the Liberace piece. Now if i can just figure out how to watch it without HBO.