StudioCanal and Working Title have just announced the start of filming on a feature-length movie about Lance Armstrong, to be shot in France and the UK. The film is the second time director Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Queen) has teamed up with British production company Working Title Films. This also represents the fourth collaboration between StudioCanal and Working Title, after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, I Give it a Year and Two Faces of January (currently in post-production). StudioCanal, which is entirely financing the film, will distribute it directly in its five regions (France, UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand) and will manage international sales, which will begin at the American Film Market in November.

The film was written by John Hodge (Trance), based on Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong, a book by Sunday Times sports journalist David Walsh. Ben Foster will play the title role, with a supporting cast that includes Chris O’Dowd (Walsh), Guillaume Canet and Jesse Plemons. The film follows Armstrong’s meteoric rise in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the cancer survivor and his American teammates revolutionized cycling, dominating the sport to win seven Tour de France titles. Meanwhile, sports journalist David Walsh was at first fascinated and overwhelmed by Armstrong’s charisma and talent, but gradually pieced together a system that is revealed as one of the greatest modern deceptions – it took years for the truth to come to light.

Photo Credit: Larry Horricks