Austin Butler is attached to star as cyclist Lance Armstrong in a biopic from Conclave director Edward Berger and Deliver Me From Nowhere producer Scott Stuber.
Zach Baylin, the Oscar-nominated writer behind Will Smith starrer King Richard, is penning the screenplay. Berger will produce the film with Stuber and Nick Nesbit. Baylin, Josh Glick and Zac Frognowski will serve as executive producers.
The Armstrong biopic does not fall under Stuber’s United Artists shingle, with the project predating his pact and revival of the Amazon MGM-owned brand. Because of this, the package, stacked with Academy Award-nominated talent, is being shopped around to studio partners. For the film, Stuber acquired Armstrong’s life rights.
Armstrong became the world’s best-known cyclist after winning the Tour de France a record-setting seven consecutive times. His legacy was called into question after the United States Anti-Doping Agency concluded an investigation in 2012 that found that Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs over the course of his career, stripping him of his titles. Armstrong denied doping allegations for years until finally admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs in 2013.
Outside of cycling, Armstrong is synonymous with cancer research, having been diagnosed with testicular cancer and later founding the Livestrong Foundation that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research and support.
Butler’s upcoming projects include the Michael Mann-directed Heat 2 (also produced by Stuber), Joseph Kosinski’s Miami Vice and Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho movie. Berger was last in the director’s chair for Netflix drama The Ballad of a Small Player and is currently filming A24 movie The Riders, starring Brad Pitt. For his part, Stuber is currently nominated for the Best Picture Oscar for his work on Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.