Steven Soderbergh: Studios scared of ‘too gay’ Liberace film

BY NATASHA BARSOTTI — The director of Traffic and Erin Brockovich says his upcoming film about Liberace was deemed “too gay” by studios and will air instead on HBO, Salon reports.

In interviews with The Wrap and The New York Post, Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh says his attempts to pitch the upcoming biopic Behind the Candelabra, with Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as the late entertainer’s lover, to Hollywood studios came up empty.

“‘Nobody would make it,’ Soderbergh says. ‘We went to everybody in town. They all said it was too gay.’

Natasha Barsotti is originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. She had high aspirations of representing her country in Olympic Games sprint events, but after a while the firing of the starting gun proved too much for her nerves. So she went off to university instead. Her first professional love has always been journalism. After pursuing a Master of Journalism at UBC , she began freelancing at Xtra West — now Xtra Vancouver — in 2006, becoming a full-time reporter there in 2008.

Keep Reading

An image of the cover of 'No God but Us' against a zoomed portion of the cover featuring a lit candle and butterflies with eyes on their wings against a black background

‘No God but Us’ delves into the parallel universes created by war and displacement

Bobuq Sayed’s debut novel considers borders and ethics through the eyes of two queer Afghan lovers
Bentley Robles

Bentley Robles wants a brotherhood of gay pop stars

The yellow-haired singer talks rising stardom, Zara Larsson and dating while gay-famous
Vivek Shraya being kissed by a man

Vivek Shraya is hot, blond and hitting the dance floor

The Toronto multi-hyphenate’s new album, “VIVICA,” shirks respectability politics for a sensual, high-gloss exploration of queer and trans desire
Morphine Love Dion, Dawn and Morgan McMichaels

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 11’ plays it safe for the first bracket—until the very last minute

Already, we see the consequences of only two queens moving forward from each bracket to the semifinals
Advertisement