The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
#1
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The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
An Irish sports journalist becomes convinced that Lance Armstrong's performances during the Tour de France victories are fueled by banned substances. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose Armstrong.
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#2
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Re: The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
This has been picking up some Oscar buzz. I've been a big fan of Stephen Frears' work for a long, long time. Yeah, there may be some Lance Armstrong fatigue and the subject seems to be an easy, low-hanging fruit as far as potential real-life villains go, but there's still a story to tell there and it could be interesting.
Not very familiar with Ben Foster, but I like him as Armstrong in that trailer.
Not very familiar with Ben Foster, but I like him as Armstrong in that trailer.
#3
Re: The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
I wonder what, if anything, will come of the one JJ Abrams' was producing and the one Bradley Cooper was going to star in (directed by Jay Roach).
I like Frears a lot too. Some of his recent stuff isn't great though...kind of stuffy. I haven't seen Philomena yet though.
I like Frears a lot too. Some of his recent stuff isn't great though...kind of stuffy. I haven't seen Philomena yet though.
Last edited by dex14; 07-27-15 at 10:13 AM.
#4
Re: The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
In this Guardian article, Foster talks about how he actually took PED for this role.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...rong-interview
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...rong-interview
I don’t want to talk about the names of the drugs I took. Even discussing it feels tricky because it isn’t something I’d recommend to fellow actors. These are very serious chemicals and they affect your body in real ways. For my own investigation it was important for me privately to understand it. And they work.
Foster went on to say he “lost his fucking marbles” while filming THE PROGRAM.
'There’s a fallout. Doping affects your mind. It doesn’t make you feel high. There are behaviors when you’ve got those chemicals running through your body that serve you on the bike but which, when you’re not …' He shakes his head. 'I’ve only just recovered physically. I’m only now getting my levels back.'
When asked how the "fallout" manifested, Foster said “I don’t know how to separate the chemical influence from the psychological attachment I had to the character. If it’s working, it keeps you up at night. This is losing your marbles, right? They’re definitely rolling around. They’re under the couch but they’re retrievable.”
The actor also talked a little about the Armstrong doping scandal:
On one hand, he’s a lying doper who tricked the world. On the other, he’s a young man who faced cancer. It changes you. And when you go to war it changes you. That’s what Lance did – he went to war with his body. That shifts your consciousness. He started training within a culture that was doping: you’d have to go down 18 riders to find a clean one. He survives death, the story catches fire and he recognizes that. He’s a smart man. He says, ‘I can do some good with this.’ He raised half a billion for cancer research. We just don’t like him because he was Jesus Christ on a bicycle. We’re mad he came back from the dead, saved the sick and then turned out to be full of shit. And we’re punishing him because he didn’t apologize in the way we’d like. Americans love a good apology. He wouldn’t do that.
Foster on playing Armstrong:
The word I’m leaning toward is ‘infected’. I tried to infect myself with him. Get him into my system...It was important to get his gait, his riding style. I talked to people who had the aerodynamics of his body on a computer system so I could get the hump in the back, the heels slightly out. It’s almost a duck pedal. It’s not a delicate ride. It’s violent, which is also why he’s such an exciting rider. It’s like he wants to break the bike.
Foster went on to say he “lost his fucking marbles” while filming THE PROGRAM.
'There’s a fallout. Doping affects your mind. It doesn’t make you feel high. There are behaviors when you’ve got those chemicals running through your body that serve you on the bike but which, when you’re not …' He shakes his head. 'I’ve only just recovered physically. I’m only now getting my levels back.'
When asked how the "fallout" manifested, Foster said “I don’t know how to separate the chemical influence from the psychological attachment I had to the character. If it’s working, it keeps you up at night. This is losing your marbles, right? They’re definitely rolling around. They’re under the couch but they’re retrievable.”
The actor also talked a little about the Armstrong doping scandal:
On one hand, he’s a lying doper who tricked the world. On the other, he’s a young man who faced cancer. It changes you. And when you go to war it changes you. That’s what Lance did – he went to war with his body. That shifts your consciousness. He started training within a culture that was doping: you’d have to go down 18 riders to find a clean one. He survives death, the story catches fire and he recognizes that. He’s a smart man. He says, ‘I can do some good with this.’ He raised half a billion for cancer research. We just don’t like him because he was Jesus Christ on a bicycle. We’re mad he came back from the dead, saved the sick and then turned out to be full of shit. And we’re punishing him because he didn’t apologize in the way we’d like. Americans love a good apology. He wouldn’t do that.
Foster on playing Armstrong:
The word I’m leaning toward is ‘infected’. I tried to infect myself with him. Get him into my system...It was important to get his gait, his riding style. I talked to people who had the aerodynamics of his body on a computer system so I could get the hump in the back, the heels slightly out. It’s almost a duck pedal. It’s not a delicate ride. It’s violent, which is also why he’s such an exciting rider. It’s like he wants to break the bike.
#5
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Re: The Program (2015 - Lance Armstrong Biopic) - S : Lee Pace, Ben Foster D : Frears
From Hollywood-Elsewhere: website :
Discredited Doper
Bad buzz has been dogging Stephen Frears‘ The Program (formerly Icon) for a while now. Turned down by Cannes but screening here in Toronto early next week. As far as I know there’s still no U.S. distributor. Charisma-challenged Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong and Chris O’Dowd as David Walsh, the Irish sports journalist who busted him. Screenplay by John Hodge (Trainspotting) and based upon Walsh’s investigative book. Costarring Dustin Hoffman, Lee Pace, Bryan Greenberg, Edward Hogg, Laura Donnelly and Guillaume Canet “as notorious Italian physician Michele Ferrari, who was the mastermind behind Armstrong’s doping operation.”
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It has apparently been picked up by eOne for US Distribution. I still think it looks really good. Well, the reviews from Toronto will be out in just a few days now.
Discredited Doper
Bad buzz has been dogging Stephen Frears‘ The Program (formerly Icon) for a while now. Turned down by Cannes but screening here in Toronto early next week. As far as I know there’s still no U.S. distributor. Charisma-challenged Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong and Chris O’Dowd as David Walsh, the Irish sports journalist who busted him. Screenplay by John Hodge (Trainspotting) and based upon Walsh’s investigative book. Costarring Dustin Hoffman, Lee Pace, Bryan Greenberg, Edward Hogg, Laura Donnelly and Guillaume Canet “as notorious Italian physician Michele Ferrari, who was the mastermind behind Armstrong’s doping operation.”
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eXfp859pcM0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
___________
It has apparently been picked up by eOne for US Distribution. I still think it looks really good. Well, the reviews from Toronto will be out in just a few days now.