When Steven Soderbergh first started shopping a script about Liberace around Hollywood, he got laughed out of the room. Well, not literally laughed out, but the "no" was universal. The studios told him it was "too gay." This was after Brokeback Mountain had already won Oscars, mind you. But the industry didn't think a story about an aging, flamboyant pianist and his much younger boyfriend would sell tickets.
They were wrong.
Basically, it took HBO stepping in to get Matt Damon Behind the Candelabra made. It became one of the most-watched movies in the network’s history and swept the Emmys. But even now, years later, people still treat it like a "brave" novelty act rather than what it actually is: a brutal, hilarious, and deeply sad look at how fame destroys intimacy. Honestly, Matt Damon’s performance as Scott Thorson is probably the most underrated thing he’s ever done.
The Transformation Nobody Expected
Damon was 42 when they filmed this. Scott Thorson was 17 when he met Liberace.
That’s a massive gap. To make it work, the makeup team didn't just slap a wig on him. They had to de-age him through lighting and sheer acting, then gradually "age" him through drug addiction and some of the most unsettling plastic surgery prosthetics ever put on film.
There's a specific sequence that sticks in my head. Liberace, played with a terrifying sort of grandmotherly malice by Michael Douglas, decides he wants Scott to look just like him. He brings in a plastic surgeon—a scene-stealing, barely-blinking Rob Lowe—to literally carve Scott’s face into a younger version of Liberace.
Damon plays this with a heartbreaking eagerness. He’s a foster kid who finally found a "family," and if that family wants him to have a new chin and a nose job, he’ll do it. It’s "kinda" gross, but you can't look away.
Playing a "Real" Person Without Meeting Him
One thing that surprises people is that Damon never met the real Scott Thorson before filming.
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He and Soderbergh decided against it. Thorson was, at the time, dealing with significant legal troubles and ongoing drug issues. They felt the 1988 memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace, gave them everything they needed. Meeting a 54-year-old Thorson wouldn't help Damon play the wide-eyed 17-year-old who walked into a Vegas dressing room and had his life changed forever.
Damon focused on the "marriage" aspect. In his eyes, this wasn't just a biopic. It was a domestic drama. They fought about the dishes, the dogs, and who was looking at whom. The only difference was they did it while wearing $100,000 mink coats.
Why Matt Damon Behind the Candelabra Still Matters
If you watch the movie today, it feels surprisingly modern. It deals with things we’re still arguing about:
- The toxicity of "stardom" and the bubbles it creates.
- Non-disclosure agreements and the "management" of a public image.
- The predatory nature of age gaps in high-power relationships.
It wasn't just about the glitter. The movie is shot with this sort of mustard-yellow, hazy 70s palette that makes everything feel slightly claustrophobic. You feel trapped in the mansion with them.
The "Too Gay" Controversy
The irony of the "too gay" label from the studios is that the movie is deeply relatable to anyone who has been in a long-term relationship. The scene where they’re arguing in the bedroom? Soderbergh actually blocked it so that Damon and Douglas end up in bed together as the argument peaks.
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Damon famously told a story at Cannes about a "Brazilian tan line" he had to get for the role. He suggested to Soderbergh that he should drop his robe to show the tan line as he got into bed, just to show how absurdly committed Scott was to Liberace’s aesthetic. Soderbergh’s response? "Oh, I know where to put the camera."
Behind the Scenes: The Real Cost of the Rhinestones
The production value was insane. They used Liberace's actual jewelry and some of his real costumes from the Liberace Museum. Michael Douglas wore a "lasagna costume" made of ostrich feathers that weighed a ton.
Damon had it a bit easier on the weight of the clothes, but he had to deal with the "waistline" journey. He went from a fit, young animal handler to a bloated, drug-addled houseguest, then back to a gaunt, grieving ex-lover. He lost weight for the final scenes to show how the "Diet Pill" addiction and the stress of the lawsuit had gutted Scott.
The Actionable Takeaway
If you haven't seen it, or if you only saw the memes about the hot tub scenes, go back and watch Matt Damon Behind the Candelabra with a focus on the power dynamics.
It’s a masterclass in "status" acting. Watch how Damon starts the movie taking up a lot of space—he’s a big, athletic guy—and by the end, he’s physically shrinking, trying to fit into the tiny boxes Liberace built for him.
To really understand the context of the film, you should:
- Read the original memoir: Scott Thorson’s book is much darker and more bitter than the movie, which provides a fascinating contrast to the film's slightly more "sympathetic" portrayal of Lee.
- Watch Liberace’s actual performances: Look at his 1970s TV specials on YouTube. It makes you realize how spot-on the production design really was.
- Compare to Soderbergh’s other work: This movie is the midpoint between his "populist" stuff like Ocean’s Eleven and his "experimental" films. It’s the perfect blend of both.
The film serves as a reminder that "human-interest" stories often get buried by the industry because they don't fit a neat marketing box. It took a massive star like Matt Damon taking a "risk" to prove that audiences actually care about the messy, sparkling, tragic truth.