HBO picking up properties “too gay” for theatrical release?

Is HBO the go-to place for film projects with a strong gay theme?

Seems to be the case.

In a recent interview with the New York Post, director Steven Soderbergh revealed that HBO will screen Behind the Candelabra, his biopic about showman extraordinaire Liberace and his lover—played, respectively, by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. The film (which will reportedly be Soderbergh’s last) was originally intended as a theatrical release, but it proved to be “too gay” for studios.

Tickling the ivories: Damon and Douglas in “Candelabra”

“We went to everybody in town,” the director said. “They all said it was too gay.”

Promos for the film have shown clips of Douglas and Damon shirtless and about to kiss.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported that HBO will screen the upcoming Ryan Murphy film of the Larry Kramer AIDS play The Normal Heart. Kramer tried for years—decades, in fact—to get a big-screen version of Heart made. During much of that time he worked with director Barbra Streisand, who reportedly encouraged him at one point to place the project with a cable network such as HBO.

When Murphy came aboard, the project—which is set to star Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts—was expected to appear as a theatrical release. That now seems not to be the case.

While it’s unclear whether Heart–like Candelabra–was shunned by studios because of gay content, it’s interesting that HBO wound up with both properties.

Hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since HBO launched the gay-themed miniseries Angels in America (based on the Tony Kusher plays). That series won critical praise, not to mention a slew of Emmy and Golden Globe awards.