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EXCLUSIVE: The doping scandal that enveloped the Tour de France and led to the downfall of 7-time champion Lance Armstrong is now the focus of movies being developed by two major studios. Warner Bros has just acquired an untitled project from Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Alex Gartner that will be scripted by Side Effects scribe Scott Z. Burns to be directed by Jay Roach. Roach, coming off the Emmy-winning HBO pics Game Change and Recount, will produce with Roven and Gartner. The package includes the life rights of Tyler Hamilton, the former professional bike racer who was in Armstrong’s inner circle on the US Postal Service Team.
A former Olympic gold medalist and NCAA champion, Hamilton was one of the first insiders to testify under oath and come forward publicly–on 60 Minutes—to break the code of silence. Michael Radutzky, an executive producer at CBS News and senior producer for 60 Minutes, is also in talks to produce. The studio is in talks to acquire confidential rights of other key individuals involved in the story, and all of this creates the tapestry to explore the biggest and most sophisticated doping scandal in the history of sports.
Perhaps it’s appropriate for the subject matter, but Warner Bros, Roven, Gartner, Roach and Burns find themselves in a race with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot partners JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk. Just as Armstrong was preparing to come clean in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January, Deadline broke news that Paramount set up a movie about the disgraced bicycle racer, based on Cycle Of Lies: The Fall Of Lance Armstrong, a proposal for a book that will be written for HarperCollins by Juliet Macur. She’s the New York Times sportswriter who covered Armstrong for over a decade, spanning his recovery from near-fatal testicular cancer to winning seven Tour de France titles, all the while steadfastly deflecting drug rumors. Silver Linings Playbook star Bradley Cooper has reportedly been talking to Abrams about playing Armstrong.
Here is a snippet of the interview Hamilton gave to 60 Minutes:
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Why do I get the strange feeling that Bradley Cooper will be cast as the lead in this movie?
Because he come out publicly several times saying that he wants the lead role of any Armstrong movie when the rumors started a few weeks ago.
well, i hope there’s a small part for tyler hamilton and that financially he profits from this. i found him to be the most sympathetic character in this whole debacle and quite telegenic to boot. this sounds like a great project.
If you followed cycling closely, and endured Tyler’s cavalcade of lies about his own participation in these events at the time — which included relentless (and successful) appeals for money from kind and generous people to support his defense — I don’t think you’d consider him sympathetic. At all. He only broke because he couldn’t lie to the feds. That’s true with every one of them.
Respect to all the creative people involved here who want to tell a good story, but please, let’s not give any more of anything to Lance and LIE-STRONG.
What’s so interesting about this is Burns spent years working on the previous version of the Lance Armstrong story — the heroic one before he got busted.
Jay is the best. He will absolutely kill this.
Does anyone want to see this movie? there’s nothing sexy or interesting about his story — he’s just icky, a liar and cheat who let his country down for stupid shallow reasons, not to mention the cancer victims he lied to for years.
Lance Armstrong is an embarrassment. The world wants him to quietly go away — they don’t wanna shell out movie to see a film about him.
That’s like saying don’t make ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN because Nixon was a liar and an embarrassment. There’s a good movie to be made here about the scandal, about power and how it is used, cheating, charismatic characters, cover ups etc.
Not like All the President’s men. There are no heroes here. The only people in jeopardy are the bad guys.
Agree. This is a fascinating subject with wide appeal (don’t forget that the Europeans love cycling) and there’s no bigger story than Armstrong.
all the presidents men was about the good guys, the reporters. every movie about Nixon flopped.
Name a good or successful bio-pic about any bad guy — except maybe richard III?
people don’t want to pay to watch stories of icky people, and embarrassments. they want heroes.
A bunch of guys in tight outfits sticking needles in each others asses. That sounds like a perfect date movie.
Seems like a lot of people enjoy that subject. Football, baseball to name a couple of sports with mens in tights sticking needles in there asses. Might be a following after all
Will Ashley Olsen play herself?
Why is everyone forgetting that Tyler is a cheat and anything he says is as much of “his” opinion as anything Lance says. Tyler was never a good cyclist (not saying I am one either), but I was never even close to the pro peloton and Tyler was and she crapped on it and when he could not longer take the heat he tried to bring down the very people who got him to where he was or was not. Either way, we is a confessed cheater and has always has been.
Read his book CM.
“Tyler was never a good cyclist” is the comment of someone who clearly knows nothing about it.
Tyler Hamilton…not a good cyclist? Tyler Hamilton was a great cyclist and possibly one of the only people who could have beaten Armstrong had he not been caught. He did a solo breakaway in the Giro da’Italia one year with a clavicle broken in two places and won the stage. He won an Olympic Gold. He won a bunch of races…he was a great cyclist. I find it very interesting that the people closest to being able to beat Armstrong all got caught doping, but Armstrong didn’t. Interestingly, Armstrong was also giving “donations” to the organization (UCI) that was, in part, responsible for testing. Lots of guys cheated and Tyler was no innocent, but Armstrong cheated, deceived, intimidated, leveraged, and pushed out those in cycling who stood in his way.
The best project out there would cover Tyler Hamilton, Floyd Landis (ex-mennonite Tour de France winner stripped of his win before Lance and now suing Lance in a Whistleblower suit that the govt. has joined), and Lance. If it weren’t for Tyler and Floyd Lance would still be living the lie. THAT would be a good movie. Good guys who aren’t so good, a bad guy that is worse, the struggle to bring him down, and the road to their redemption.
I’ll be glad to write it up…for a fee.
Unless you have had Cancer and lived through the treatments do not put Lance Armstrong down, People seem to always want to see the worst and once something isn’t to there liking they are all there on condem ,they do not thing of the good Lanceo did fo
r people going through Chemo at that timer.
Obviously like his book “The Secret Race”… this will be told from Tyler’s view and even though lance has admitted doping, can’t go that deep. SO what’s the point? Tyler and Coyle left a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor because of legalities I’d suspect. Even though lance said, he doped, he left a lot out and even denied some things. So those writers and producers will need to tread extremely carefully to avoid being a real lawsuit by lance et al.
Really though, can’t you see the casting lounge… filled with doped up slightly used cyclists.
Really? It’s one thing to make the flick, it’s another to actually pay money to go watch it. Apparently, Hollywood believes there are. A sad commentary on our society.
Is this supposed to be a human interest story about the rise and fall of a sports super star or is it the opportunity to jump on the “I hate Lance Armstrong” bandwagon for all the “evil” he’s done riding a bicycle?
Maybe this movie will act as some sort of catharsis for all those who believed in the “myth” and felt betrayed by the unfortunate reality. It may also be a time for purging themselves of any regret or shame they’ve felt for allowing themselves to be sucked in and duped by the Armstrong “from the death bed to the podium” miracle story.
If there’s any sort of life lesson to be learned from the Armstrong affair, it’s simply this, “be careful how you treat others on your way up, those will most certainly be the same people passing (kicking) you on your way down.”
Regardless of the stated explanations for the years of cruel, inhumane and even mean spirited behavior vented at those considered enemies, there was absolutely no reasonable excuse. In fact, it was a huge tactical mistake as all the world now knows. And no one knows any better than the one currently experiencing the monumental personal fallout it’s caused. I wouldn’t wish this travesty on anyone, including Lance Armstrong.
Regardless of the aforementioned, for me, Lance Armstrong will go down as the best stage racing cyclist the Tour has ever experienced. Drugs or no drugs, I still believe he was the strongest, most well prepared and most focused competitors to grace the French tarmac in July. I highly doubt that what he accomplished will ever be duplicated. As an American and as an outsider, he went to a foreign county, played their game, in their arena, and at the end of the day, beat them and beat them soundly drugs or not. Really.
For the public to even buy into the myth that Armstrong “stole is victories” at this stage of the game is delusional. His Tour wins and stage wins were not awarded to the men in second place . . . because they were riding on teams with well organized doping programs as well.
Armstrong was no Dr. Mabuse. He played the game like everyone else and it’s the game of doping that’s the real tragedy.
To paraphrase Jan Ulrich. It’s time to take off the Rose colored glasses.
I totally agree with you TJ. Ok, I get that he lied and doped. But as yourself, for me I watched him win every one of those Tours, have them on DVD. I still have my TdF hat Lance signed at Leadville as well as a Graham Watson lithograph signed by Lance, in my office. And no, I’m not taking either item down off the wall.
“. . . and all of this creates the tapestry to explore the biggest and most sophisticated doping scandal in the history of sports.”
Really? You bought that lie from USADA. Can you say FIFA, NFL, MLB? Tell me there’s no enhanced in these multi-billion dollar “sports”. Then check out the story of the good old “clean Americans” transfusing their own blood at the 1984 Olympics. Google “Operation Puerto” or how about doing a story on the East German doping regime, or how the old T-Mobile team had their own team doctors running their doping program. Now there’s one of the biggest State sanctioned and run doping programs in the history of sports.
Doping in sports = dog bites man. North Dallas Forty is a yawner today.
Now if you want to tell a story of the dark choices these men made and their downfall that would make a great tale worthy of Coppola or Scorsese.
CM how on earth can you say that Tyler was “never a good cyclist”? I also infer from your language that if in the same position as Tyler was you would have not “crapped it when under pressure” and would have lied to the Feds under oath & perjured yourself? …..interesting
The film should star Jim Carey and titled, “LIAR, LIAR, LANCE ON FIRE”
I think Paul Walker should get the role of Armstrong.
Another point that warrants discussion; I’ve been involved in competitive athletics from the first time I qualified for my school track and field team. I was in 1st grade.
I’m in my mid 50′s now and although I haven’t raced a bicycle in over 10 years, I will not soon forget the amount of self-inflicted pain and suffering endured over 20+ years of amateur racing.
In my adult life, I ran distance competitively (5k’s to marathons) for about seven years until a severe achilles injury forced me out. Once recovered (but never again 100%) I began to compete in triathlons. This lasted for the ensuing three years until friends finally convinced me to try bicycle racing.
After my first race I was hooked.
Along the way, I happened to read about some 14 year old Texas kid who was tearing up the pro triathlon field. Unbelievable! The tri pros were more experienced, talented and extremely strong, and yet here was this “kid” who was kicking their asses. There was no doubt, he was a genuine natural.
After I left the tri arena, I remember wondering if that kid would ever make the transition into bicycle racing. If for no other reason, there was certainly more financial incentive than there was in the American born sport of triathlons. That’s if the success he enjoyed in tri’s could be duplicated racing his bike overseas as a professional.
He went, suffered like a dog paying his dues in the pro peloton and in a relatively short order began turning heads. At the age of 21 he wins the World Road Championships. Unbelievable! Here was the real deal, like him or not.
We all know the “rest of the story.” What’s my point? With an athletic background, I don’t believe there’s any other sporting discipline that demands more sacrifice, more suffering and more self inflicted pain (with often little to show for the required effort) than pro bicycle racing dishes out day after day.
Lance Armstrong was an athletic phenom, some would say a “freak of nature.” I certainly believe he was. Whether you buy “the level playing field” argument or not, it doesn’t really matter, I believe it was. The facts are what they are, the pro field wasn’t clean. Performance enhancing meds were omnipresent way before he arrived. I’m not suggesting all were using, some would not and did not. However, their success was relatively sort lived. It was their choice not to partake just as it was for all those that felt the need to use. If you wanted to call it a dirty sport, then so be it. To me it is and will remain one of the most beautiful sporting disciplines in the world.
While I may not condone the use of artificial performance enhancers, I do believe that that was Lance’s professional reality. In order to achieve and succeed in the manner he believed possible, he did what he believed necessary. Like it or not, this was not about right and wrong, this was about survival.
One more point: How is it that one in the highest official authority can openly state “US Postal and Lance Armstrong ran the most sophisticated doping program in the history of the sport,” and it goes unchallenged? In my opinion it’s absolutely without any real basis or merit.
How could an American official or anybody else for that matter, state something as fact when there is no way on earth he could possibly back it up with concrete proof? Where’s the evidence? How did he know what other pro teams were practicing during Lance’s era or those era’s preceding Lance? It’s simply not possible for anyone to have known or be all knowing about something that had been going on behind closed European doors for decades.
Maybe US Postal had more funding, maybe they didn’t. Maybe US Postal had access to better meds and the others didn’t. Maybe US Postal had better medical advice, maybe they didn’t. Who knows? We’ll never really know.
Or maybe, just maybe US Postal had the best overall team with the best management lead by the best team leader for the task at hand.
For the record, I’ve never been a diehard Lance fan. Not now and not during his reign of Tour victories. However, I’ve always had a genuine respect for his incredible athletic talent and an admiration for his “on the road” achievements. For me, his cycling legacy of seven Tour victories remain undiminished; he earned them and they’re still his.
I call BS i was an elite runner who started doing tri’s about the same time as Lance. First he never kicked the pro’s as a 14 year old. He did sprint tri’s. What a joke. s short swim, bike 5 miles run 2. The distance was varied in those days. My first race i destroyed Paula Newby Fraser & paul huddle on the bike(all hype not that good)when i got to the first mile of the run i checked my watch 4:35. After years of running i knew the course was a good quarter mile short in the first mile. Not uncommon. Did you know that Lance said he although he was a sprint tri pro in high school he never broke 5 minutes for the mile? Unbelievable considering there are many high school GIRLS who do that every year.The athletic standard of triathlons is still poor. Notice even with all the advances in the bike, the fastest combined bike runs are all 20 years old, back in the 80′s when bikes weighed 23 pounds! If u can’t run a mile under 5 and running is part of your profession you are not a pro. Lance was doping as a high school athlete. On steroids like so many texas high school football players. It would help his cycling & swimming but kill his running. That was Lance’s line, good swimmer, great cyclist , poor runner. He was merely the best doper.
Lance Armstrong Did what was part of the sport long before he was part of it. He didn’t invent performance drugs. Sheeesh. He’s a great rider and raised more money for a worthy cause than anyone in his or any other sport. And he’s a great lier. Big deal give him a break.
Lance’s greater transgression than the drugs was his bullying and lawyering at great expense to those he attacked.Pay em back with interest.Drugs or no drugs he was a great athlete but a totally defective human.
Dude, I’m scrolling down and I’m like, wait, there’s more to this cheap ass article! And then I notice it’s you! Great work pal, keep it up! I’ll be at the bucks in shitty burbank on monday. Let’s talk ozones, types of athletes feet and training wheels!
If all things were equal and dope less Tyler would have beat Lance and most of the field. Lance knows this, that’s why he was such an ass to Tyler. Not that Lance didn’t have skills. Tyler just seemed to know how to hurt more.
Enough Already He got up from CANCER!!! Bottom LINE!!!! not many able bodied folks would even the B…. to even try
This coming from a cycling fan period who started with Hinault & Lemond
I have been following the Tour de france since 1948. I am 81 now.
The first time I heard Americans were going to become involved I felt that it could be ruined by them. (Americans having to win at all cost.) To my great regret I was right. As in so many other things, they will talk their way out of it having .
The Americans ,my cousins, I feel wanted Armstrong to win and contribute to the universally false impression that theirs is the greatest country in the world. ???????
Tyler still following LA’s lead after all these years. If there was not LA,there would be no Tyler. Pathetic, but the ratings will determine the winner AGAIN!