  Within an Onsager-like density functional theory we explore the thermodynamic
and structural properties of an isotropic and nematic fluid of hard needle-like
colloids in contact with a hard substrate coated with a soft short-ranged
attractive or repulsive layer. As a function of the range and the strength of
the soft interactions we find wetting and drying transitions, a pre-drying
line, and a symmetry-breaking transition from uniaxial to biaxial in the
wetting and drying film.
