Michael Douglas is taking on his most high-profile role in years this month as he plays the extravagant Las Vegas performer Liberace in a HBO biopic.

The Steven Soderbergh-directed Behind the Candelabra, which focuses on Liberace’s closeted relationship with his much younger boyfriend Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival before being shown on HBO in the US on 26 May and getting a cinema release in the UK on 7 June.  

The role was a departure for Douglas, who is best known for film parts that see him writhing around naked with female actresses, as he had to get comfortable kissing a guy as well as spending a lot more time in costume and hair and make-up than usual.  

‘I was the girl on this movie!’ Douglas told New York magazine. ‘The hair and make-up for Liberace took two and a half hours.’

Well, we can imagine. Liberace was a man who liked a pretty ‘done’ look. A recently published fashion book, Liberace Extravaganza!, published by Harper Design, chronicles the piano virtuoso’s flamboyant bejewelled stage outfits and reveals that he wore ten suits that each cost up to $24,000 during his 80-minute performances. 

See the gallery for his best looks.