Michael Douglas forced director Steven Soderbergh to cut gay porn scenes in their new Liberace biopic because the actor wanted to be able to show his young kids the film without having to explain the explicit shots.

The Wall Street star portrays the flamboyant pianist in Behind The Candelabra, and, although he had no problem filming intimate scenes with his co-star Matt Damon, who plays Liberace's young lover Scott Thorson, Douglas refused to allow footage of men's penises to grace the Tv screens in the movie.

He tells New York Magazine, "Liberace loved sex, and I didn't have a problem with that. But, at one point, Steven Soderbergh wanted to show Lee (Liberace) watching a gay porno...

"I said, 'I'd like my kids to see this R-rated movie, but I don't want to show them a 14-inch d**k!' It was the only thing I objected to, so we cut to different parts of the apartment during the porno... It may not have been 14 inches, but it was huge."

Douglas is father to son Dylan, 12, and 10-year-old daughter Carys with his second wife Catherine Zeta-Jones.