Ben Foster to Lead Stephen Frears' Lance Armstrong Biopic

How does the saying go? "There is no such thing as bad publicity"? Certainly that's held true for Lance Armstrong, whose Hall of Fame cycling career and perception as a cancer-surviving hero were shattered by a doping scandal. But that hasn't stopped filmmakers from looking to bring his story to the big screen, with Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets), J.J. Abrams, and Jay Roach all developing their own features on Armstrong's rise and fall. Now there's one more in the works from Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things), and he's already secured one of today's most underrated actors for the lead role.

Ben Foster is in talks to play Armstrong in the untitled film, which is being fast tracked for a fall start date, probably to stay a few steps ahead of the other projects in development. Foster has been a great actor in decent films for a lot of years, but really hit his stride in Oren Moverman's The Messenger. He's got quite the juicy, scene-stealing role in David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints (review here) coming up in just a few weeks, and it's the sort of smoldering performance that won't be quickly forgotten. This makes Foster the first actor cast to play Armstrong, and when all is said and done this is the sort of film that can make a career really fast.

With Danny Boyle favorite John Hodge (Trance, Trainspotting) scripting, we can probably expect to see the movie ready by next year's awards season.[Deadline]