Soderberghs Liberace-Projekt

Steven Soderbergh is in the early stages of developing a biopic about Liberace for Warner Bros., which he will direct.

The filmmaker said he has drafted his "Traffic" star Michael Douglas to play the flamboyant pianist.

Richard LaGravanese is writing the script, and Jerry Weintraub will produce.

Soderbergh is in discussions with Matt Damon to play Scott Thorson, who sued Liberace in 1982 for $113 million in palimony, claiming he was the entertainer’s companion for five years. Even though Liberace never wavered from career-long denials that he was gay, Thorson reportedly settled for $95,000 in 1986.

Liberace died in 1987 of complications from AIDS at age 67.

According to sources, Soderbergh won’t make the Liberace film his next project, or even the one after that.

Soderbergh will next direct "The Girlfriend Experience," about a call girl, for 2929 Entertainment partners Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner and their HDNet label.

That is the second of the six-picture deal Soderbergh made to direct low-budget films that are distributed simultaneously in theatrical, on cable and DVD. The first was "Bubble."

Aside from starring in the Soderbergh-directed and Weintraub-produced "Ocean’s Eleven" film series, Damon just starred for Soderbergh in "The Informant."

Quelle: Variety
Soderbergh bleibt also dem Biopic-Thema treu und scheint dazu auch noch Michael Douglas ein wenig aus der Versenkung zu holen. Die Person Liberace scheint jedenfalls schillernd genug zu sein, so dass sich ein Film darüber durchaus lohnen könnte. Bis dahin warten wir einmal ab, welche Filme davor von ihm, sprich Soderbergh, kommen werden.