Stephen Frears’ Ben Foster-Starring Lance Armstrong Scandal Film Joins Crowded Race

By  · Published on July 27th, 2013

It’s not a great time to be Lance Armstrong (now that he’s admitted to doping and been banned from competitive cycling), but it’ll probably get worse when all those “Lance Armstrong doping scandal” movies start coming out. Sony Pictures Classics have a documentary, The Armstrong Lie releasing soon. On the biopic front, Paramount and J.J. Abrams have teamed up for their own film, based off of Juliet Macur’s book, Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. and Jay Roach have their own film planned.

Now the list grows to four Lance Armstrong films, this one coming from Working Title Pictures, with Stephen Frears (of High Fidelity and The Queen) slated to direct. Although it’s the newcomer to this ever-expanding group of potential Armstrong films, it may actually be the first to see release (outside of The Armstrong Lie, which is already in the can). Deadline reports that the film may begin shooting as early as this fall, and that Ben Foster, of this year’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Kill Your Darlings, is in final talks to star. John Hodge, writer of Trainspotting, has screenplay duties.

Is it likely that all four movies will actually be released? Probably not. And with Frears’ film already raring to go, it looks like Abrams and Roach are the most likely casualties. That’s probably good news for filmgoers. And for Lance Armstrong.