Showing posts with label Michael Douglas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Douglas. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

Why do only fools and horses work?


Many happy returns to Michael Douglas (80 years old) AND to his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones (55) today!

More "snippets" today, dear reader...

  • Patron Saint news: Our Princess Kylie has announced a massive new tour– her biggest in more than a decade – taking in (so far, as announced) Australia, Asia and venues up and down the UK. Somewhat pricy, inevitably, so I think we may just bask in the memory of seeing her at Proms in the Park back in 2012...

  • Comeback news: Former children's-TV-stalwart-turned-cosy-daytime-telly-host Phillip Schofield [see here], whose downfall - he was exposed as having an affair with a younger male colleague while ostensibly married with kids - made tabloid news headlines for months is returning to our screens in a new Channel 5 reality show Cast Away.
  • Significant anniversary news: That most British of composers (with an admittedly Germanic name) Gustav Holst's 150th anniversary (which actually fell on 21st September 2024) was (as one might expect) well-and-truly celebrated at The Proms, and on BBC Radio 3 all last week. Lest I be accused of ignoring this milestone, here's one of the most melodramatic orchestral works of the early 20th century, by way of tribute:

  • And, finally: Happy Comic Book Day! As my regular reader will already know, I am a bit of a "Marvel geek" - and have been ever since I was a kid, when the original Spidey cartoon (and its magnificent theme tune) was a new thing:

And the weather? Foul, gloomy and wet.

Sunday, 12 June 2011

Liberace, Matt'n'Mike and male strippers


Michael Douglas as Liberace
How Michael Douglas might look as Liberace


Two bits of cinematic campness are coming up this year - from one man!

Steven Soderbergh - who has been described as "a stylistic chameleon" by reviewers for his willingness to tackle big-budget blockbusters such as Erin Brokovich, Traffic and the Ocean's Eleven remakes, as well as "art-house" movies like Sex, Lies and Videotape and Che - is currently filming a movie version of the stormy relationship between Liberace and his lover Scott Thorson, starring (remarkably!) Michael Douglas and Matt Damon!


This could be a fascinating movie, indeed. Mr Douglas (not renowned for his camp sensibilities, nor in fact his brilliant acting skills in my opinion) playing the "deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love" that was Liberace? Mr Damon (an eternally cute yet somewhat dull actor) playing his gay lover? I can't wait!



Now, reports Variety, Mr Soderbergh will also direct the former model-turned-cinematic-eye-candy (I hesitate to use the word "actor") Channing Tatum in a movie about male strippers. [Yes, please!]



In Magic Mike, Mr Tatum will star as the title character, a veteran performer who takes a young dancer under his wing and guides him through the shadowy world of the stripper biz. It's apparently inspired by Tatum's real life experiences as a stripper when he was 19. I am getting to like Mr Soderbergh...

Read more about "Magic Mike" Stephen Soderberg on IMDB