And now for something completely different. Steven Soderbergh's HBO movie chronicled the life of pianist Liberace, a particularly extravagant and eccentric star of his time who was always rumoured to be gay but never officially came out. Nonetheless the film shows Michael Douglas, as Liberace, clearly in a relationship with Matt Damon's Scott Thorson, on whose memoir the film is based. The scariest thing that happens over the course of Behind The Candelabra is probably either the interior design of Liberace's home or Damon's face post-plastic surgery. As you can imagine, it's not a particularly spooky film, because it's not supposed to be. And yet even this seemingly light and fun production was blighted by a dread spectre that followed the filmmakers around. ...Sort of. Both Damon and Douglas have spoken in interviews about an eerie presence they felt during filming, a report in tabloid the National Enquirer stating that they had each felt a cold damp air swish by, reeking of a potent men's cologne, and Douglas had a cold hand tap him on the shoulder only to turn and find nobody there. Which might just have been Soderbergh messing with him.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
