Soderbergh had planned to commence production in early 2012 on a feature version of '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E. '' , also written by Scott Z. Burns . George Clooney was set for the lead role of Napoleon Solo but had to drop out due to a recurring back injury suffered while filming '' Syriana '' . In November 2011 Soderbergh withdrew from the project due to budget and casting conflicts , and was eventually replaced by Guy Ritchie . His final televised project before heading into retirement was '' Behind the Candelabra . S '' hot in the summer of 2012 , it starred Michael Douglas as legendarily flamboyant pianist Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover Scott Thorson . The film is written by Richard LaGravenese , based on Thorson 's book '' Behind the Candelabra : My Life with Liberace '' , and produced by HBO Films . It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
2013 Cannes Film Festival
2013 Cannes Film Festival
Steven Soderbergh