Austin Butler will soon be hitting the pedals as the 34-year-old actor takes on the role of cyclist Lance Armstrong in a new biopic. Butler, who received an Oscar nomination for his impressive performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film ‘Elvis’, portrays the athlete whose career was overshadowed by a doping scandal. The director is the talented Edward Berger, known for ‘All Quiet in the West’ and ‘Conclave’. The film is produced by Scott Stuber, a former Netflix executive and producer of ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.’ Thanks to his efforts, Armstrong’s life rights were secured, which triggered a real bidding war between major studios and streaming services. Hoewel Armstrong is involved in the project, he is not listed as a producer.
A team of experienced minds
The script was written by Zach Baylin, who already made a name for himself with ‘King Richard’. In addition to Stuber and Edward Berger, Nick Nesbit is also producing the film. Josh Glick and Zac Frognowski act alongside her as executive producers. According to Deadline, Stuber and Armstrong had a long conversation about the planned film. Stuber emphasized that we could only work with full openness about Armstrong’s life, otherwise the project would not come to fruition. After much discussion, Armstrong was ready to tell his story.
By the way, this is not the first time that Lance Armstrong’s life has come to the screen. Back in 2015, Ben Foster portrayed the professional cyclist in ‘The Program’ – but without Armstrong’s participation. Foster, who meticulously prepared for the role, later revealed that he tried performance-enhancing drugs himself. He told The Guardian: “Saying the names of the substances feels strange as I wouldn’t recommend anything similar to other actors. They are very serious chemicals with significant effects on the body. Understanding this privately was important to my research. And it works.”
