During the past few years, three movies about Lance Armstrong have gone into development. The first to hit theaters will be The Program, starring Ben Foster (Lone Survivor) as Armstrong and directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen).
Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) also stars in the film as David Walsh, the Irish journalist for The British Times determined to uncover Armstrong’s doping regimen and the lengths to which he went to cover up his deception. (Walsh has written three books on the subject, one of which — Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong — is the basis for this movie.)
The first official trailer for the film was released on Thursday, and Foster’s uncanny resemblance to the disgraced cyclist is the immediate takeaway from this preview. Check it out.
Jesse Plemons (Friday Night Lights) plays fellow cyclist Floyd Landis and Lee Pace (Halt and Catch Fire) portrays Armstrong’s agent, Bill Stapleton. No one seems to know what role Dustin Hoffman is playing, but he’s in the movie too. (Maybe an official for USA Cycling, judging from the trailer?)
The Program is kind of an unfortunate title, but the production has had difficulty coming up with one that stuck. At one point, the movie was titled Icon. For one thing, the 1993 film about college football (starring James Caan) already has that name and might still carry an association with sports fans. For another, the title is just so vanilla. It says nothing about Armstrong, his career or the PED scandal that calls all of his achievements into question.
As mentioned, two other Armstrong films are in varying stages of development. At one point, Bradley Cooper was reported to be interested in producing a project directed by Jay Roach (Game Change), in which he might have played either Armstrong or former teammate Tyler Hamilton. But there’s been no update on that film in nearly two years. J.J. Abrams has also been attached to an Armstrong biopic, this one based on Juliet Macur’s book Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong. However, it’s also been almost two years since any new information became available there.
Currently, The Program doesn’t have a U.S. release date scheduled, though one will surely be announced soon. The film will premiere in France on Sept. 23, followed by a debut in Germany on Oct. 8. (By the way, the trailer is also available to watch in German, if you’re interested.)
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