14 DAY TRIAL // In 2013, interest in a Lance Armstrong biopic peaked with industry executives, as the doping scandal involving him became even bigger with his public admission on TV. Jake Gyllenhaal and Bradley Cooper were considered for the part, which eventually went to Ben Foster.
The first trailer for the film, called “The Program,” has been released, and as usual, you will find it in full and in HD below.
Now that Foster has gotten the chance to inhabit the character and bring his specific brand of unsettling weirdness to it, I’d say Cooper and Gyllenhaal wouldn’t have been as good a fit for the role as he turned out to be.
“The Program” is based on the book by David Walsh, who is played by Chris O’Dowd in the movie. Dustin Hoffman, Lee Pace and Jesse Plemons are also appearing in this Studio Canal production, set for release in France in September.
The release schedule so far includes Germany and Sweden for later dates, so chances are audiences in the US and other territories might not get the chance to see it in theaters.
This would be a crying shame: “The Program” might be a production with a smaller budget, but it looks very promising, not only for the treatment applied to one of the biggest doping scandals ever in the history of sports, but also for the acting performances.
Here’s a taste of both.
