Archive of films Behind the Candelabra / Behind the Candelabra

USA
2013, 118 min

Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition
Year: 2013

Before Elton John, Madonna and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace: over a career spanning 40 years he continued to dazzle American audiences as a virtuoso pianist and entertainer. He was a flamboyant star both on stage and on the box, and he indulged in equally lavish eccentricities in his private life. Yet, in his day, there was no way he could have come out.… This glorious foray into Liberace’s glittering, ostentatious world of the late 1970s focuses on his relationship with Scott Thorston, forty years his junior. Steven Soderbergh cast two of his favourite actors in his new film – Matt Damon and Michael Douglas.

Synopsis

Before Elvis, Elton John and Lady Gaga, there was Liberace: over a career spanning forty years he dazzled audiences with his virtuosity as a pianist and entertainer, taking America by storm. He was a flamboyant star both on stage and on the small screen, and he indulged in equally lavish eccentricities in his private life. Yet his era would never have tolerated a public admission of homosexuality. Sixteen-year-old Scott Thorson entered Liberace’s life in 1977, officially the celebrity’s new chauffeur, unofficially his lover. Despite the forty-year age difference, Scott and Liberace spent several happy years together. And it was this period which provided director Steven Soderbergh with the idea for a glorious foray into a glittering world which seemingly held no boundaries for its creator. Soderbergh cast his favourite actors Matt Damon (Ocean’s Eleven and its two sequels, The Informant!, Contagion) and Michael Douglas (Traffic, Haywire).

About the director

Steven Soderbergh (b. 1963, Atlanta) debuted with the relationship drama Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989 – Palme d’Or at Cannes) and won a Best Direction Oscar for his drug-trade drama Traffic (2000). He adopts an unbiased stance both in his art-house projects and intelligent genre films. The former include the biopic Kafka (1991), the re-make of Tarkovsky’s sci-fi Solaris (2002) and the tragicomedy Full Frontal (2002). The commercial side to Soderbergh’s film catalogue is represented by the romantic crime flick Out of Sight (1998), the bio-drama Erin Brockovich (2000), the crime comedy Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and its two sequels (2004, 2007), the thriller Contagion (2011), the action movie Haywire (2012), and the romantic comedy Magic Mike (2012).

Contacts

A-Company Czech s.r.o.
Štefánikova 18/25, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 257 315 540
www: www.a-company.cz

HBO Enterprises
1100 Ave.of the Americas, NY 10036, New York
United States of America
Tel: +1 212 512 5673
Fax: +1 212 512 5698
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.hbo.com

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About the film

Color, DCP

Section:	Official Selection - Out of Competition

Director:	Steven Soderbergh
Screenplay:	Richard LaGravenese podle románu / based on a novel by Scott Thorson and Alex Thorleifson
Dir. of Photography:	Peter Andrews
Music:	Marvin Hamlisch
Editor:	Mary Ann Bernard
Producer:	Jerry Weintraub
Production:	HBO Films, Jerry Weintraub Production
Cast:	Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Dan Aykroyd, Rob Lowe, Scott Bakula
Contact:	A-Company Czech s.r.o., HBO Enterprises
Distributor:	A-Company Czech s.r.o.

Guests

Barbora Mudrová

Other, TV Representative