Douglas ready to take piano lessons for Liberace
Cancer survivor MICHAEL DOUGLAS is set to undertake piano lessons in preparation for his role as flamboyant musician LIBERACE in a new biopic.
The Wall Street star declared he was disease-free earlier this week (begs10Jan11), six months after he was diagnosed with a tumour in his throat.
Douglas admitted he would have to work hard to build up his strength before returning to Hollywood after dropping so much weight during his health crisis, but he's eager to return to work and start production on Liberace, in which he will appear opposite Matt Damon.
He said, "I lost a lot of muscle mass, so I'm going to work on that. I'm going to get my fingers ready for Liberace."
And the actor's been busy researching for the role.
He tells People magazine, "I've been watching a lot of tapes of him. He wasn't the greatest dancer nor the greatest singer, but he was a great pianist and entertainer."
The 66 year old reveals he will be taking lessons in how to tinkle the ivories to properly portray the late legend, but he's hesitant to show off his distinctive baritone voice and sing on film.
He says, "We'll see how it goes."