Honestly, if you told someone in the mid-2000s that Jason Bourne and the guy from Wall Street were going to play star-crossed lovers in a sparkly, tragic biopic about a flamboyant pianist, they would have laughed you out of the room. But that is exactly what we got. The actors in Behind the Candelabra didn't just play roles; they disappeared into a world of sequins, silicone, and deep-seated loneliness.
Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 film for HBO remains a masterclass in transformative acting. It’s not just about the costumes, though the costumes are basically their own characters. It’s about the way Michael Douglas and Matt Damon managed to find the humanity in a story that could have easily drifted into caricature.
Michael Douglas as Wladziu Valentino Liberace
Michael Douglas was coming off a massive health battle when he took this on. He had been dealing with stage IV tongue cancer. You can almost feel that vulnerability in his performance. He didn't just do a "voice." He captured the specific, breathy cadence of Liberace—a man who was constantly performing, even when he was just sitting in his bathtub.
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Most people remember Liberace as a joke or a relic of their grandmother’s era. Douglas reminded us he was a predator, a genius, and a deeply lonely man who was terrified of aging. It’s a terrifyingly precise performance. He nailed the duality: the "Mr. Showmanship" persona that charmed middle-aged housewives and the private, controlling figure who wanted to literally reconstruct his lovers in his own image.
Matt Damon’s Transformation into Scott Thorson
Then there is Matt Damon. It’s easy to forget how brave this role was for him at the time. He plays Scott Thorson, a naive animal trainer who gets sucked into Liberace’s gilded orbit. Damon starts the movie looking like a healthy, golden-haired youth and ends it as a drug-addicted, surgically-altered mess.
The chemistry between the two actors in Behind the Candelabra is what makes the movie work. It isn't played for laughs. They treat the relationship with a dead-serious intimacy that makes the eventual fallout feel genuinely devastating. You see Scott’s descent from being a "prince" to being a discarded accessory. Damon’s physical acting during the scenes where he's recovering from plastic surgery—his face tight, his eyes darting—is some of the most uncomfortable stuff he’s ever put on film.
The Supporting Cast: Rob Lowe and Debbie Reynolds
We have to talk about Rob Lowe. He plays Dr. Jack Startz, the plastic surgeon. It is, quite frankly, one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen on screen. Lowe worked with the makeup team to make his eyes look permanently pulled back, giving him a vacant, feline stare that is pure nightmare fuel. He’s the one who facilitates Liberace’s obsession with making Scott look like a younger version of himself. It’s a small role, but it anchors the film’s themes of artificiality and the horror of trying to outrun time.
And then there’s Debbie Reynolds.
She played Liberace’s mother, Frances Liberace. If you didn’t know it was her, you might miss it entirely. She wore heavy prosthetics and a thick accent, playing a woman who was perhaps the only person Liberace truly feared or respected. The irony of Reynolds—a contemporary of the real Liberace—playing his mother added a layer of Hollywood meta-commentary that Soderbergh surely intended.
Dan Aykroyd and the Business of Silence
Dan Aykroyd shows up as Seymour Heller, Liberace’s long-suffering manager. Aykroyd plays him with a stiff, no-nonsense corporate vibe that contrasts sharply with the glitter. He represents the "closet" of the era—the business machine that kept Liberace’s private life a secret because the brand depended on it. His performance reminds you that this wasn't just a romance; it was a multi-million dollar industry that required everyone to lie.
Why the Casting Worked Against All Odds
Hollywood actually rejected this movie. Soderbergh famously said that major studios thought the film was "too gay." That seems insane now, but in the early 2010s, it was a real barrier. By casting two of the biggest "manly" stars in the world, the production forced the audience to look past the sequins.
You’ve got the guy from The Departed and the guy from Basic Instinct in bed together. It forced a mainstream audience to engage with the story as a human drama rather than a fringe spectacle. The actors in Behind the Candelabra used their star power to protect the story's integrity.
Scott Thorson himself, the real man, has had a very troubled life since the events of the movie. He’s been in and out of legal trouble and health issues. While the movie is based on his book, it doesn't shy away from his flaws. Damon plays him as someone who was both a victim and someone who was perhaps a bit too seduced by the fame and the jewelry.
The Plastic Surgery Narrative
One of the most intense parts of the film involves the "reconstruction" of Scott. Liberace literally asks his surgeon to make Scott look like him. This isn't just a weird plot point; it happened. The actors had to convey the psychological toll of that kind of identity theft.
Douglas plays those scenes with a chilling sense of entitlement. He sees Scott as a piece of clay. Damon, meanwhile, plays the transition from being flattered to being horrified with subtle, tragic shifts in his body language. By the time Scott is wearing a chin implant and a prosthetic nose, he looks like a broken doll.
The Legacy of the Performances
The film swept the Emmys and the Golden Globes for a reason. It wasn't just "brave" casting; it was right casting.
If you're looking to understand the era of the "Mega-Las Vegas" residency before it became what it is today with Adele or U2, this film is the blueprint. It shows the sweat and the greed behind the curtain. The actors in Behind the Candelabra managed to strip away the camp to reveal a story about how power dynamics can destroy a person.
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Key Takeaways for Film Buffs and Historians
If you are revisiting the film or watching it for the first time, pay attention to the lighting. Soderbergh (acting as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym Peter Andrews) uses a palette that feels both expensive and sickly.
- Michael Douglas delivers a career-high performance that avoided the "Great Man" biopic cliches.
- Matt Damon proved he could handle extreme character arcs that required more than just physical stunts.
- The Makeup Team deserves as much credit as the actors for the prosthetic work on Rob Lowe and Debbie Reynolds.
- The Script by Richard LaGravenese avoids judging the characters, leaving that to the audience.
To truly appreciate what these performers did, you should look up old footage of the real Liberace on The Ed Sullivan Show. You’ll see that Douglas didn't just mimic him; he captured the soul of a man who was terrified that if the music stopped, he’d be nothing.
Check out the original memoir Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace by Scott Thorson for the raw, often darker details that didn't make it into the two-hour runtime. Watching the film alongside the source material highlights just how much nuance the cast brought to their roles.