Why is Steven Soderbergh's latest bypassing North American theatres? J. Sperling Reich reports from Cannes.
Though the Sundance Film Festival has made a habit of programming movies, especially documentaries, produced by premium cable networks, for a television movie to make it into competition at the Cannes Film Festival is nearly unheard of. Sacrilegious, even.
Not so this year, as Steven Soderbergh's biopic of pianist and entertainer Liberace, Behind the Candelabra appears in the official selection despite having been produced by HBO. Maybe the movie's inclusion is due to the fact that it will open theatrically outside of North America. Maybe it's the festival's admiration for Soderbergh's work. No explanation was given, and after the film screened for critics early Tuesday morning, it became apparent none was needed.
Behind the Candelabra depicts the last decade of Liberace's life and his romantic relationship with a young man 40 years his junior, Scott Thorson. The film features Michael Douglas playing Liberace in one of the best performances of his career, alongside Matt Damon as Thorson. At the conclusion of the initial screening in Cannes' Grand Théâtre Lumière, if audience members weren't talking about what a shame it is neither actor will be Oscar-eligible for their work in Behind the Candelabra, they were certainly thinking it.
Not that Soderbergh and producer Jerry Weintraub hadn't tried to get the film made at a studio, it's just that none would green light it. "I think the feeling just was when we were going around with it four or five years ago…they weren't convinced that there's an audience for this film except for people who are gay," Soderbergh explained. "When they sort of looked at the economics, when you’re going to spend $25 million to release a movie, which means you have to make $50 million to get your 25 back, I think there was a sense that it was a very risky proposition."
Speaking at a press conference for the film in Cannes, Douglas took this theory one step further. "I don't think the problem with Behind the Candelabra was because of the gay issue, it's just that studios don't like to be bothered with smaller pictures," said the actor. "They don't seem to like to have to worry about smaller pictures and smaller budgets, and therefore cable television in the States has become an access point."
Soderbergh pointed out that, more and more, some of the best storytelling and filmmaking can be found on television. Over the last ten years, this has caused a migration of not only audiences to outlets such as HBO and other cable networks, but also some of the most talented actors, writers and directors. "Certainly there is a lot of great TV being made in the States right now and I feel like in terms of cultural real estate, TV is really taking control of a conversation that used to be sort of the exclusive domain of movies," Soderbergh observed. "I don't view this as good or bad, it just is what it is. It's an interesting new model if you're someone who likes your stories to go narrow and deep. It's a novel on screen. I think it's exciting."
So does Richard LaGravenese, Behind the Candelabra's screenwriter. "You can have ambiguity in television that you're not allowed in film," he explained. "Television is expanding and films seems to be constricting. At least Hollywood studio films. TV is where a writer can write his novel. You can have episodes that are purely character-driven without plot that are just about nuance and shades of the human condition that you can't do in film anymore."
When it came to actually making Behind the Candelabra, Soderbergh said he never gave a second thought to whether it was being produced for television or theatrical release. He simply set out to make the film he had always envisioned. He didn't even change the already modest budget, once HBO came on board to finance the project. "Fortunately when we were making the film, we had already set in motion the ability to release the film theatrically outside the U.S." he noted. "There was never any discussion about trying to do any sort of maneuvering to get a theatrical release in the U.S. Our attitude at the end of the day is that more people are going to see it. That was really all we were concerned about."
And winning the top prize in Cannes, the Palme d'Or, would only increase the film's audience appeal. With the jury handing out awards comprised of filmmaker Ang Lee, actress Nicole Kidman and headed by director Steven Spielberg, it isn't outside of the realm of possibility. It would certainly be ironic, since Behind the Candelabra could conceivably win the Palme d'Or this Saturday evening, a mere 24 hours before it premieres on HBO on Sunday evening, May 26.
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