In a cover story for The Hollywood
Reporter, actor Michael Douglas says he's already begun prepping
to play flamboyant pianist Liberace.
The 66-year-old Douglas says doctors
have given him a good prognosis in his fight with throat cancer and
is now focusing on his first post-cancer role.
“I've got a bunch of tapes of
performances,” he said. “I'm thinking; I'm a blank slate.
Everything shows me he was a lovely man; I just want to reconfirm
that.”
Acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh
will direct Douglas in the starring role of Liberace starting in May
or June. The
project, which has been on the back burner for over two years, will
also feature Matt Damon playing the part of Scott Thorson, Liberace's
alleged lover. The movie is based on a script by Richard
LaGravenese, which is based on Thorson's book Behind the
Candelabra (My Life With Liberace).
Liberace vehemently denied he was gay
and successfully sued The Daily Mirror and Confidential
in 1957 for implying he was gay.
Also
set to begin filming is Clint Eastwood's biopic of FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover, who also denied he was gay.