Austin Butler to play Lance Armstrong in big-screen biopic
The Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler is scheduled to take on the role of the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in a buzzy new biopic. The package has caused a “frenzied” bidding war in Hollywood with the Conclave director Edward Berger at the helm and King Richard’s Zach Baylin set to write the script.
Producer Scott Stuber, who recently worked on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, has been working to secure Armstrong’s life rights for a while and a deal has now finally been agreed. Armstrong will be involved in the film but will not have a producing credit.
The hope is for the film to be a cross between F1 and The Wolf of Wall Street. Armstrong became an international star after winning the Tour de France on seven consecutive occasions between 1998 and 2005, but an investigation in 2012 took away his titles when he was found to have used performance-enhancing drugs and he received a lifetime ban from the sport.