(80’s porn star wannabe Matt Damon talks about his upcoming role as Liberace’s young lover)

RETURN OF THE GLITTER MAN:
Michael Douglas and Matt Damon to appear in new Liberace movie

Get ready to see Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in the throws of sexual ecstasy– or at least, playing a game of tonsil hockey. A big-screen biopic about flamboyant entertainer Liberace is definitely in the works, with Douglas playing the campy singer and Damon playing Scott Thorson, Liberace’s twinkish limo driver,”bodyguard”, and live-in boyfriend of five years, who was 17 when they met. Their “love story” didn’t exactly have a happy ending. Thorson sued his sugar daddy for $113 million in palimony after the two split up, publicly outing the singer. In 1984, most of Thorson’s suit was dismissed, although he received quite a bit of hush money for damage control. Liberace continued to publicly deny that Thorson was his lover and even that he was gay; in fact, “Mr. Showmanship” denied his homosexuality his entire career, up until his death from AIDS in 1987. In 1956, an article in a British paper “The Daily Mirror” stopped short of outright saying he was gay, stated that Liberace was “…the summit of sex—the pinnacle of masculine, feminine, and neuter. Everything that he, she, and it can ever want… a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love” (Now, I don’t see anything derogatory about that… Do you?) Liberace sued and won. The singer– who had a preference for furs, feathers, sequins, glitter, and gaudy jewelry– fought and settled a similar case in the U.S.against the gossip mag “Confidential”, who published an article in 1957 entitled “Why Liberace’s Theme Song Should Be ‘Mad About the Boy!'” The kiddies today may not remember Liberace, whose fan base consisted mainly of middle-aged women and closet queens even in his heyday (My mother was a fan. What does that tell you?). However, the singer was a staple of early 1950s television, was a very popular in Las Vegas later on, and cemented his status in pop culture forever by appearing as a Liberace-like Special Guest Villain in “Batman”! Hey, Lady Gaga even pays him homage in her song “Dance in the Dark”. The 2011 movie will be directed by Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich”, “The Informant!”). Soderbergh has stated that the budget will allow filmmakers to re-create segments of Liberace’s elaborate live shows, which often involved elaborate stunts such as “flying” on to the stage or driving to his piano bench in a Rolls-Royce. This is not the first time Liberace’s life has been made into a movie. In 1988, not one but two made-for-TV movies were shown about his life. I remember seeing both of them as a fledgling culture vulture. One of them, the “official” one, asserted that Liberace was (Get this…) heterosexual, and it only briefly mentioned that he died of AIDS via a screen note at the end. The better, more accurate version, called “Liberace: Behind the Music” starred Victor Garber as Liberace and Maureen Stapleton as his overbearing mother. This movie actually explored his homosexuality, his relationship with Thorson, and his HIV status– although the film was still sadly restricted by TV movie standards at the time.
Matt Damon appeared earlier this week on “The Early Show” on CBS, sporting a mustache that made him look an extra in the bar scenes of the 1980 gay leather bar murder movie “Cruising”. “What’s with the mustache?” co-anchor Harry Smith asked the actor. “I’m going into porn,” Damon said, laughing. “It’s really the only place left. But I’m going into ’80s porn.” Hmmm… Damon spoke about his role in his new movie “Green Zone,” and then went on to talk about his upcoming role as Thorson in the Liberace movie. Damon said the last time he saw Douglas, he was told by the star, “Get your Chapstick ready!”
Are you turned on yet?