Steven Soderbergh's highly buzzed HBO film Behind the Candelabra has received acclaim from critics, but Rob Lowe's performance has been getting a lot of unexpected attention.

In the film Lowe plays Dr. Startz, a plastic surgeon whose own face has been surgically-enchanced beyond belief. See a photo here.

Many who watched the premiere of Behind the Candelabra Sunday night tweeted their reactions to Lowe's face, a extreme physical tranformation he had for the role:

"Rob Lowe's face haunted my dreams."

"I never thought I'd say this, but @RobLowe is giving me the creeps."

Lowe went through hours of makeup each day to play the part, telling Entertainment Weekly that the process was painful at times.

"It's tape and pulled behind my head. It's literally what they used to do in the early days of cinema before there were facelifts for actresses," he said, "You tape, you pull around the back of the head, but you have to have a wig because it covers the elastic.

Lowe has received similarly shocked reactions from those close to him.

"I've taken great glee in showing pictures that I have on my iPhone of Dr. Startz to people," he added, "They are so repelled and engaged, which is sort of what I was going for."

Lowe prepared for the role by studying the book upon which the film was based, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace. The actor noted that the book describes Dr. Startz's face as "almost plastic."

Behind the Candelabra stars Michael Douglas as closeted singer Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson, his secret lover. When asked about Liberace, Lowe said that the singer was innovative in his style:

"When my kids ask about him, I say, 'He invented bling.' Like the rappers of today wouldn't be wearing or doing anything of what they're doing without Liberace first."

Behind the Candelabra premiered Sunday night at 9 p.m. on HBO and will be airing again in repeats.

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Rob Lowe, Behind the candelabra