Ben Foster may be gearing up for the role of a lifetime.
The “Contraband” star is in talks to play disgraced bicycling champion Lance Armstrong in a new film from director Stephen Frears and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, according to Deadline. Written by John Hodge (“Trainspotting”), the movie will focus on the massive doping scandal that led to Armstrong being banned from competitive racing and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
As Deadline notes, Frears’ film isn’t the only Armstrong doping pic in development; others in the pipeline include a Warner Bros. project written by Scott Z. Burns (“Side Effects”) that’s set to be directed by “Game Change” helmer Jay Roach as well as a Paramount film based on the book “Cycle Of Lies: The Fall Of Lance Armstrong” by New York Times sportswriter Juliet Macur that’s being produced by Bad Robot partners J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk. Bradley Cooper has been rumored for the latter project.
Foster has several films hitting theaters over the next several months, including “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” co-starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck (August 16), Beat Generation pic “Kill Your Darlings” opposite Daniel Radcliffe (October 18) and Peter Berg’s “Lone Survivor” with Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch and Eric Bana.
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