Behind The Candelabra, director Steven Soderbergh and producer Jerry Weintraub's Liberace biopic, premiered on HBO Sunday night to amazing ratings and was the most-watched HBO Films production in nearly a decade.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two-hour film, which stars Oscar-winner Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorston, drew 2.4 million viewers for its first airing at 9 p.m. It’s the best premiere for an HBO Films movie since 2004’s Something the Lord Made drew 2.4 million viewers.
Entertainment Weekly reports that the 11 p.m. airing drew another 1.1 million viewers, bringing the total to 3.5 million for the night. Considering it was Memorial Day weekend, that’s a big surprise.
Behind the Candelabra also beat the political drama Game Change, which drew 2.1 million viewers during its first airing.
The film was screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival last week and is going to be Soderbergh’s final film. (Although he is linked to a Cinemax series.) It will be eligible for this year’s Emmy awards and, like Game Change, is expected to earn several nominations.
You can check out our review of the film here.
image: Photo by Ian Gavan/WireImage for Electrolux/image.net