Okay let’s do the background stuff on this first. You might remember that at the beginning of the year rumors swirled that Bradley Cooper would be taking the role of Lance Armstrong in a movie slated to be produced by J.J. Abrams. Cooper said he had “no idea” that such a project existed, though he did say he was interested in playing the disgraced cyclist. That’s certainly proving true as Cooper is now pedaling toward a rival project over at Warner Bros., although he isn’t committed to play Armstrong just yet.
This spring it was revealed that another Armstrong movie was being developed by screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (“Side Effects,” “Contagion“) to be directed by Jay Roach (“Game Change,” “Recount“), and that’s the one Cooper is kicking the tires on. Now titled “Red Blooded American,” the actor is in talks produce the movie and star in it either as Armstrong or as Tyler Hamilton, the guy who went on “60 Minutes” to reveal his teammates’ misdeeds and broke the gate wide open. The movie has the life rights of the latter, and we presume it will be told from his perspective, so perhaps it’s the meatier of the two roles.
Of course, this is on the fast track because there is not only Abrams movie in the works but another from Stephen Frears with Ben Foster in the lead role. And that’s on top of Alex Gibney‘s documentary “The Armstrong Lie,” which debuts at TIFF next month. Livestrong, indeed. [Deadline]
