The Program Still - H 2015
Courtesy of StudioCanalAhead of its upcoming world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, eOne is in negotiations to pick up North American rights to the Lance Armstrong drama The Program.
Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena) directed the Working Title/StudioCanal film, which stars Ben Foster as the disgraced cycling champion whose doping scandal led to his fall from grace. Chris O’Dowd plays journalist David Walsh, who worked for years to bring Armstrong’s misdeeds to light.
John Hodge (Trainspotting) wrote the screenplay.
The film bow is Sept. 13 at Roy Thomson Hall as a Gala presentation. It is unclear what eOne’s release strategy would be. eOne declined comment.
The Program wouldn’t be the first project to tackle the sports hero who won seven Tour de France titles but whose legacy was tarnished by charges of using banned performance-enhancing drugs and techniques. Alex Gibney chronicled the story in his documentary The Armstrong Lie, which also played at TIFF, back in 2013. Showtime aired an Alex Holmes-helmed documentary last year with Stop at Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story.
The Program will mark the first narrative feature on the globally recognized star. The project has been shopped around since Cannes, when a new cut was shown.
The film will soon roll out in international territories, debuting in France and the U.K. on Sept 16., Germany on Oct 8. and Australia and New Zealand in November.
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tracey Seaward and Kate Solomon produced The Program, while Olivier Courson, Ron Halpern, Amelia Granger and Liza Chasin executive produced.
StudioCanal is negotiating the sale.
