Legendary producer Jerry Weintraub
describes Liberace as a “tortured man” as his new film on the pianist's life heads to the Cannes Film Festival.
Behind the Candelabra, which
stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his partner Scott
Thorson, is set to premiere on Sunday, May 26 on the pay cable network
HBO.
The film will also compete for the
prestigious Palme d'Or award at the 66th annual Cannes
Film Festival, which takes place between May 15-26.
Weintraub, the film's executive
producer, told The
Hollywood Reporter that he and his wife were friends with
Liberace and that he was gay.
“Liberace was a very nice person.
But he was a homosexual, and he could not come out of the closet in
those days,” Weintraub said. “You just did not do that. Rock
Hudson couldn't do it, either. You'd lose your audience. And
Liberace's audience was all female. They didn't know he was gay. If
he had lived today, the way Elton John and David Furnish live, he
could do it. But he couldn't do it then.”
“I went to his home many times for
drinks and dinner. He was very nice to me and my wife. He was a
wonderful performer. Very flamboyant onstage as well as offstage.
He was a happy man. He enjoyed his success, but he also was a
tortured man.”