Edward Berger is set to direct a feature about cyclist Lance Armstrong, with Austin Butler starring as the controversial Tour de France winner.
The project, which is being offered to US studios and streamers, is being written by Zach Baylin, who was Oscar nominated in 2022 for his King Richard script, and will be produced by Scott Stuber, Nick Nesbit and Berger.
Former Netflix film head Stuber has secured life rights from Armstrong, who survived cancer and won the Tour seven times before admitting to blood doping. The project falls outside Stuber’s current deal at Amazon MGM’s United Artists, under which he is also working with Berger on a political thriller about Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who spent a year in a Russian prison.
Berger recently started shooting The Riders, starring Brad Pitt, Julianne Nicholson and Camille Cottin, in Ireland. The A24 project is filming around Dublin and in other locations in Ireland and across Europe.
Berger is also set to direct Butler in sci-fi story The Barrier, for 20th Century Studios.
Armstrong’s downfall was previously the subject of Stephen Frears’ 2015 feature The Program, in which Ben Foster played the cyclist. The story was also covered in Alex Gibney’s 2013 feature documentary The Armstrong Lie.
Berger’s Armstrong project was first reported by Deadline.
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