There are a couple of high profile biopics in the works by J.J. Abrams and the duo of Scott Z. Burns and Jay Roach, but it's Stephen Frears' film that will be getting off the starting blocks first. Already with Ben Foster set to play the disgraced cyclist, production gets underway later this week and now the rest of the cast has been filled out impressively.
Chris O'Dowd, actor/director Guillaume Canet (Tell No One), and Jesse Plemons (The Master) have joined the untitled film, featuring a script by Trance writer John Hodge. O'Dowd will play journalist David Walsh, whose book Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit Of Lance Armstrong forms the basis of the story. Here's the official synopsis...
The story of Lance Armstrong—the cyclist who recovered from testicular cancer and went on to win the Tour de France a record seven times, the man who wrote a bestselling and inspirational account of his life, the charitable benefactor—seemed almost too good to be true. And it was.
As early as Armstrong’s first victory on the Tour in 1999, The Sunday Times (London) journalist David Walsh had reason to think that the incredible performances we were seeing from Armstrong were literally too good to be true. Based on insider information and dogged research, he began to unmask the truth. Cycling’s biggest star used every weapon in his armory to protect his name.
But he could not keep everyone silent.
In the autumn of 2012, the US Anti-Doping Agency published a damning report on Armstrong that resulted in the American being stripped of his seven Tour victories and left his reputation in shreds. Walsh’s long fight to reveal the truth had been vindicated. This book tells the compelling story of one man’s struggle to bring that truth to light against all the odds.
With this one clearly on the fast track, we can probably expect to see it as a major in the 2014 Oscar race.
