Ben Foster to Play Lance Armstrong in Biopic

Unnamed project is being produced by Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and will be directed by Stephen Frears

By Alyssa Toomey Jul 26, 2013 10:29 PMTags
Ben Foster, Lance ArmstrongMike Pont/Getty Images, AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Looks like Ben Foster may soon be stepping into Lance Armstrong's cycling shoes. 

The Contraband star is in final talks to play the disgraced cyclist in an upcoming biopic, E! News confirms. 

The unnamed project is being produced by Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner and will be directed by Stephen Frears.

John Hodge wrote the script for the film, which will follow Armstrong's life from his battle with testicular cancer in the 1990s to his recent fall from grace after he copped to using performance-enhancing drugs

Foster's most famous film credits include 3:10 to Yuma, Pandorum, The Mechanic and The Messenger. He also appears in two upcoming films that both premiered at Sundance—Ain't Them Bodies, which also stars Rooney Mara, and the John Krokidas-directed Kill Your Darlings

In addition to his work on the big screen, the 32-year-old star recently made his Broadway debut opposite Alec Baldwin in The Orphans after he replaced Shia LaBeouf in the lead role. 

 

 

 

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

The Foster-Frears project is one of at least three upcoming biopics based on the onetime cycling hero's life. J.J. Abrams is set to produce the Paramount Pictures biopic based on New York Times sportswriter Juliet Macur's book Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong, while Warner Brothers also reportedly has an Armstrong flick in the works. 

In January, Armstrong's controversial interview with Oprah, in which he admitted to doping to win the Tour De France, aired on OWN. 

Prior to the sit-down, the 41-year-old athlete apologized to Livestrong Foundation Staffers in Austin, Texas, "for the stress [the Livestrong staff has] endured because of him and urged them to keep up their great work fighting for people affected by cancer," according to Livestrong's director of communications and external affairs. 

Three months before his image-shattering admission, Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life. 

He has since returned to cycling, making his comeback in The Des Moines Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa this month. 

Do you think Foster is a good casting call? Tell us in the comments! 

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