Far be it for any of us, particularly a puny little media critic like me, to judge what an acclaimed Oscar-winning filmmaker can do with his street cred. But one does have to wonder if Steven Soderbergh knows what he's getting himself into. Variety is reporting that the director known for such wide-ranging projects as Sex, Lies and Videotape, Traffic, Erin Brockovich and the Ocean's Eleven flicks, is developing a biopic on no less than Liberace.
Yes, that Liberace.
Wait, it gets better (or worse). Soderbergh wants Michael Douglas to play the understated pianist, with Matt Damon in talks to portray one of Liberace's paramours, Scott Thorson - you know, the one who sued Lee (as he was known to his friends) for palimony.
Of course, Soderbergh has proven that he knows what he's doing when it comes to directing films, so maybe it's unfair to poo-poo his Liberace film as mere folly or pure camp. And after devoting himself to a five-hour epic on Che Guevera, one really can't begrudge him for pulling a 180 for one of his next motion pictures. But Liberace? Michael Douglas as Liberace? I'll believe it when I see it - and even then, I may choose not to believe it.
No comments:
Post a Comment