In 1985, pianist Liberace told Charlie Rose that his flamboyant style had left him “trapped.”

Liberace is the subject of the film Behind the Candelabra, which is set to premiere in the United States on pay cable network HBO on Sunday.

The film, which stars Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson, premiered Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival in France, where it is competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or award.

In a 1985 appearance on Nightwatch, Rose asked Liberace, “How important is the flamboyance, the sense of the Liberace style?”

“Well, I think it's something that I created very innocently in the beginning by going from a black full dress suit to a white full dress suit. And of course, now I'm caught in a trap, so to speak, of having to top myself each time around and coming up with new surprises and new innovations in my presentation,” Liberace responded.

In an interview with NPR's Fresh Air, director Steven Soderbergh credited Liberace with inventing “bling.”

“You could make an argument that Liberace really invented the idea of 'bling.' I mean, nobody was dressing themselves like this. When you look at the people that have followed him – whether it's Elvis or Elton John or Cher or Madonna or Lady Gaga – you know, all these people are sort of building on something that he began,” Soderbergh said.