Austin Butler is a man who knows a thing or two about playing a pop cultural icon who became a dominant force in their field, enjoyed the highest of highs, experienced the lowest of lows, and is now probably best described as having ‘a complicated legacy’. And having channelled his electric charisma and sharp edge into Baz Luhrmann’s bravura Elvis Presley movie Elvis, Butler will soon be swapping jumpsuits for lycra as disgraced seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong in Edward Berger’s upcoming biopic, which has just landed at Apple.
Conclave director Berger — who’s currently shooting A24 joint The Riders with Brad Pitt — is teaming up with King Richard scribe Zach Baylin and producers Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt to bring Armstrong’s story to the big screen. While this of course won’t be the first Lance Armstrong movie to hit our screens since the cyclist’s extensive history of doping was brought to light (Stephen Frears’ Ben Foster led The Program came out in 2015, three years after Armstrong came clean), this as-yet-untitled movie will be the first to have been granted Lance Armstrong’s life rights, which producer Stuber — who reportedly was upfront about his desire to tell Armstrong’s story in full, from cancer survivor, activist, and champion to cheat, scandal, and professional disgrace when communicating with the ex-champ — has been pursuing for a very long time according to Deadline‘s sources.
Described as a movie that will tantalisingly combine elements of “F1: The Movie, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, and The Wolf Of Wall Street“, Berger and Butler’s Armstrong biopic package was subject to a fierce bidding war before Apple eventually secured the rights. Given how extraordinary and multifaceted the Lance Armstrong story is, and the calibre of talent assembling to tell it, we have high hopes that this cycling biopic will turn out to be absolutely dop— er, very good. Yes, very good.
