The rise and fall of star cyclist Lance Armstrong is coming to the big screen. Austin Butler is attached to play the lead role in a new biopic of the extremely controversial athlete who became an American sporting hero, only to see it all come crashing down. Conclave director Edward Berger is attached to helm the film.
According to reports, the film is the subject of an ongoing bidding war between studios. Screenwriter Zach Baylin will pen the film; he has experience with sporting biopics, having written Gran Turismo and King Richard, earning an Oscar nomination for the latter. It will be Butler's second prominent role headlining a major biopic; his performance as Elvis Presley in 2022's Elvis earned him widespread acclaim and an Academy Award nomination. The film will be made with full access to Armstrong's life rights; producer Scott Stuber has long pursued those rights to make a biopic, even prior to his current deal with Amazon MGM Studios, which means that the rights for the Armstrong biopic will be available to the highest bidder. Despite Armstrong's involvement in the film, however, he will not be a producer.
Who Is Lance Armstrong?
Born in Richardson, Texas, Armstrong was a successful cyclist before being diagnosed with a deadly form of testicular cancer in 1996. Armstrong made a full recovery and returned to cycling in 1998, winning the prestigious Tour de France an unprecedented seven times between 1998 and 2005. Armstrong became the most famous cyclist in the world thanks to his massive success and inspirational recovery; the signature yellow bracelets from his Livestrong charitable organization were once ubiquitous, and he cameoed in films like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and You, Me and Dupree. Doping allegations had long dogged Armstrong, as they do for many cyclists; however, Armstrong successfully fought them off until a 2012 investigation concluded that Armstrong had not only used performance-enhancing drugs himself, but had been the ringleader of a sophisticated doping operation. Armstrong was banned from cycling for life, and publicly confessed in 2013.
Armstrong's story has been dramatized on the big screen before. Stephen Frears (The Queen) directed The Program in 2015, which focused on Armstrong's doping conspiracy. It starred Ben Foster as Armstrong, alongside Chris O'Dowd, Jesse Plemons, Lee Pace, and Dustin Hoffman.
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A biopic of Lance Armstrong is in development, with Austin Butler attached to star; no release date has yet been announced. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
