Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Timing: 1:58 (118 min)

6.645/10
754

6.759/10
6722

7/10
47000

All about film

Video 2

Photo 13

Actors and characters

Release date

2013-05-26

Country

United States

Production

Jerry Weintraub Productions, HBO Films

Genre

Drama, Romance

Budget

$23 000 000

Revenue

$13 352 609

Website

Director

Steven Soderbergh

Actors

Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Tom Papa, Paul Reiser, Bruce Ramsay, Nicky Katt, Cheyenne Jackson
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Michael Polaire, Susan Ekins, Gregory Jacobs, Jerry Weintraub

Operator

Steven Soderbergh

Composer

Marvin Hamlisch

Artist

Audition

Carmen Cuba

Editing

Steven Soderbergh, Julie M. Anderson
All team (29)

• The film is based on the novel by Scott Thorson and Alex Thorleifson, “Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace” (1988).
• Soderbergh offered Douglas the role of Liberace during the filming of “Traffic” in 2000. The actor thought the director was joking, as he didn't consider himself to resemble the American pop legend. Several years passed, Soderbergh returned to the idea and gave Douglas the actual book by Scott Thorson, “Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace.” “I read this book and thought it was really very suitable for a film,” the actor said. He later admitted that this role was a “real gift” for him after he overcame throat cancer in 2011.
• To recreate Liberace’s distinctive voice, Douglas trained for a long time, and to teach the actor to play the piano, Soderbergh wanted to hire him a teacher, but the actor managed with real video recordings of the pianist and a meticulous study of his technique.
• Soderbergh spent several years trying to get a Hollywood studio to take his work "under its wing"; he received rejections every time with the explanation "too gay a film." After this failure, the director decided to make his film exclusively for television.
• Despite the presence of repeated bed scenes in the film, Douglas believed that the most difficult thing for the actors was still the daily application of makeup. "We shot this film very quickly, but we had to apply complex makeup every day. And when I went outside without it for the first time after filming ended, I was even a little worried," he recalled.
• Soderbergh incredibly quickly edited the footage, which was ready by the end of the shooting day.
• Soderbergh offered Douglas the role of Liberace as early as the filming of “Traffic” in 2000. The actor thought the director was joking, as he didn’t consider himself to resemble the American entertainment legend. Several years passed, Soderbergh returned to the idea, and gave Douglas the book by the real Scott Thorson, “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace.” “I read the book and thought it was really very suitable for a film,” the actor said. He later admitted that this role was a “real gift” for him after he overcame throat cancer in 2011.
• Soderbergh spent several years trying to get a Hollywood studio to take his work 'under its wing'; he received a rejection each time with the explanation 'too gay a film'. After this failure, the director decided to make his film exclusively for television.
• Despite the presence of repeated bed scenes in the film, Douglas believed that the most difficult thing for the actors was still the daily application of makeup. 'We filmed this movie very quickly, but we had to apply complex makeup every day. And when I first went outside without it after the end of filming, I even got a little worried,' he recalled.