Even before Lance Armstrong confessed to his wrongdoing in the doping scandal, his career was going to be the focus of a movie. Winning seven Tour de France titles, during and after battling testicular cancer and the ups and downs of a highly publicized relationship with musician Sheryl Crow, combined with doping rumors was already the broad outline for an engaging biopic. But then he copped to doping, and now there are two movies being made about him. Nobody ever said Hollywood hates a scandal.
Deadline reports Warner Bros. has acquired an untitled project from Atlas Entertainment that will not only focus on Armstrong’s involvement in the doping scandal, but the deal includes the life rights of Tyler Hamilton, former Olympic Gold medalist and former teammate of Armstrong on the U.S. Postal Service Team. Hamilton was one of the first of those guilty to come forth with his involvement in doping, both by a confession on 60 Minutes and testifying under oath.
The film will be directed by Jay Roach, who is best known for directing the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents films, his work on the HBO dramas Recount and most recently Game Change have proven him a multi-faceted filmmaker. He’ll be working from a screenplay to be written by Scott Z. Burns, who wrote Side Effects and is working on the script for 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
Deadline says Warner Bros. is negotiating for more confidential rights of others closely involved with the story, which along with Hamilton’s involvement should put it a nose and a bike wheel ahead of Paramount/Bad Robot’s Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong, based on New York Times reporter Juliet Macur’s book of the same name.
