(AP) — In the new film "Behind the Candelabra," veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds has just three major scenes to flesh out one of the most complicated figures in piano-playing showman Liberace's life: his loving but sometimes manipulative mother Frances. Reynolds joined Liberace's inner circle while both were doing stage shows in Las Vegas. "Behind the Candelabra" picks up the story of Liberace, played by Michael Douglas, in the '70s and focuses on his six-year relationship with the much younger Scott Thorson, portrayed by Matt Damon. Liberace died from complications of AIDS in 1987 at age 67. On the heels of its theatrical world premiere this week in Cannes, the film begins a run in overseas cinemas starting in June.

CHICAGO (AP) — The lawyer for an 87-year-old woman who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscraper condo deal told jurors in Chicago on Wednesday that he was personally repulsed because he felt the "Apprentice" star conned his client and lied about it on the witness stand. Plaintiff attorney Shelly Kulwin's comments came during a sarcasm-filled closing argument at the federal civil trial that pits Jacqueline Goldberg against the billionaire real estate mogul-turned TV showman. Jurors withdrew to begin deliberations later Wednesday but went home after 90 minutes without reaching a verdict. City pride intervened during closings when Kulwin appeared to make an unfavorable reference to executives in New York. Goldberg alleges Trump persuaded her to buy two condos at around $1 million apiece in Chicago's glitzy Trump International Hotel & Tower by promising she would share in building profits. [...] Trump's attorney described Goldberg as a detail-oriented investor who knew the contract that she signed stipulated Trump could cancel the profit-sharing offer as he saw fit. Since the contract gave Trump rights to change the profit-sharing offer, Novack said the onus was on Goldberg's attorneys to prove Trump secretly plotted to defraud her before she even signed up to buy. In his final remarks, Trump's attorney told jurors their obligation was to the evidence, not to their sense of sympathy or to any urge to send a message.

Liberace, forever hailed as Mr. Showmanship, was the excess-to-the-max pianist-personality whose onstage and offstage extravagance were legendary and who wowed audiences in Las Vegas and worldwide to become the best-paid entertainer on the planet during his heyday from the 1950s to the 1970s. [...] Douglas now dazzles as Liberace in the new HBO film "Behind the Candelabra," including lavish musical numbers in which he tinkles the ivories and flourishes his jewel-and-ermine finery. Douglas' co-star is Matt Damon, who, in a casting choice almost as counterintuitive, plays Scott Thorson, a dreamy, strapping teen who in 1977 met Liberace in his Vegas dressing room and almost instantly became his personal assistant, live-in companion and top-secret lover. "Candelabra" (whose title cites the trademark prop ornamenting Liberace's onstage piano) also features Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Paul Reiser, Debbie Reynolds and a hilarious turn by Rob Lowe as Liberace's on-call plastic surgeon. [...] that doesn't override the risk factor for Douglas and Damon as they tackled roles dramatically at odds with their images and past work. Douglas, too, had been in Soderbergh films, including the 2000 thriller "Traffic," during whose production the director first proposed Douglas playing Liberace. "First of all, Lee was a nice guy," Douglas began, using the name Liberace's friends called him. Liberace is seen before and after his own plastic-surgery refresher, and, in a final scene, gravely sick from an AIDS-related illness from which he died in 1987 at age 67. "Candelabra" is his comeback performance after a brutal six-month regimen of radiation and chemotherapy for stage 4 throat cancer in 2010. When he stepped in front of the cameras after his own brush with mortality, he seems to have embraced Liberace as a positive life force and a fitting way to get back in the game. In "Candelabra," Douglas certainly got to wear a lot of makeup, and subsequent projects should allow him to embody other colorful characters — such as President Ronald Reagan in the film he was about to start, "Reykjavik." EDITOR'S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press.

CANNES, France (AP) — To convince Kristin Scott Thomas to play the bloodthirsty matriarch of "Only God Forgives," director Nicolas Winding Refn appealed to Scott Thomas — how else? — with the flattery of his own mother. In the Bangkok noir, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, Scott Thomas plays a mother demanding her surviving son (Ryan Gosling) avenge the murder of her other, more favored son (Tom Burke). There's even less dialogue than "Drive" (the script was a sparse 60 pages, Refn says), and the film unfolds as a perverse Greek tragedy transported to Thailand's grim underbelly. Refn conceived of Scott Thomas' character as a combination of Lady Macbeth and Donatella Versace after the actress sent him photos of her with long blonde extensions. While critics at Cannes had mixed reactions to "Only God Forgives" (it drew boos from some), Scott Thomas' performance was hailed, along with predictions of an Oscar nomination. In a memorable dinner party scene, she cuttingly and vulgarly dresses down Gosling's character. Gosling also added a suggestion — a slur Crystal lobs at her son's female guest — after Refn asked for one of the most offensive words to call a woman in America. Refn works collaboratively with actors, guided by the boldness of his oft-repeated mantra: "The enemy of creativity is good taste."

A man-versus-nature tale about a lone sailor adrift on the Indian Ocean, J.C. Chandor's movie has no dialogue, just a few lines of voiceover at the start and a couple of heartfelt expletives. The second feature from "Margin Call" director Chandor, "All Is Lost" is screening out of competition at Cannes, where both it and 76-year-old screen icon Redford got a warm reception Wednesday. Chandor — who premiered "Margin Call" at Redford's Sundance Film Festival in 2011 — said he wrote the script with Redford in mind for the role. Confined to the claustrophobic setting of a damaged and becalmed yacht — and later a tiny life raft — he conveys both the unnamed character's physical struggle with the elements and his deteriorating condition. While stunt performers were used for some scenes of the movie — filmed in large part on the open sea — Redford took pride in jumping into the physical rough-and-tumble of the film. Maybe this film will be seen in contrast. Because there's nothing but the elements.

"Every day," the director laughed during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, where his movie is screening out of competition. The lack of litter was just one of the logistical and cultural hurdles that Canet had to overcome to make the tale of sibling tensions in which two brothers — one a straight-arrow cop played by Billy Crudup, the other a charismatic criminal played by Clive Owen — find themselves on a collision course. Canet, a 40-year-old French screen heartthrob-turned-successful director, had several offers of work in the U.S. after his 2006 French film "Tell No One" — a taut adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel — became a surprise hit in the U.S. The movie is a remake of the 2008 French thriller "Les Liens du Sang" (literally Blood Ties, but titled "Rivals" in English), which starred Canet as the policeman brother. The film is steeped in Canet's love of '70s American movies and evokes "Mean Streets" — Martin Scorsese's breakout 1973 drama — and other films of the era, such as director Jerry Schatzberg's junkie drama "The Panic in Needle Park." The '70s look of the film is powerfully evocative — all polyester, vast cars and even vaster moustaches — and the soundtrack is chock-full of killer tunes. The goal of mixing crime-thriller action with domestic scenes is laudable, and anyone with siblings will recognize the dynamics at play during a disastrous Thanksgiving dinner involving Crudup, Owen, sister Lili Taylor and dad James Caan.

[...] this week at the Cannes Film Festival, he premiered his version of William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying," a novel of fractured perspectives and enormous cinematic challenges. Having earlier screened at Cannes a short film he made as a student at New York University ("The Clerk's Tale"), coming to the festival in the Un Certain Regard section — for innovating or daring works by young talent — is something of a graduation for Franco. Much is made of Franco's industriousness — his juggling of roles including budding filmmaker, comic actor (seen in the upcoming "This Is the End"), lethargic Oscar host, performance artist and eternal student. While Franco's grittier, more low-budget "As I Lay Dying" differs greatly from Baz Luhrmann's 3-D spectacular, Franco says they share a desire to recapture the vibrancy each book had before they were canonized and made into regular U.S. school reading. Whereas Luhrmann used hip-hop and contemporary music to substitute for the Jazz Age, Franco's film sought to make the novel's then-groundbreaking narration again feel innovative. "The way that we shot it, the cameras we used, the way that we edited it, the way that we structured the film, the split screen — all those things are very contemporary," he says. [...] another adaptation is up next for Franco.

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City woman has been sentenced to probation for stalking actress Marion Cotillard (koh-tee-YAR') on the Internet. Prosecutors said Yuan sent 504 emails and 120 webcam videos of herself to a Cotillard fan website in 2011.

CHICAGO (AP) — An attorney for an 87-year-old grandmother who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a condo deal has told jurors the "Apprentice" star lied on the witness stand. Plaintiff attorney Shelly Kulwin told jurors Trump stepped on the stand before them "to lie, evade and spout infomercials."