It’s been four years since he stepped into the shoes of the king of rock and roll in Elvis and earned an Oscar nomination for his troubles. Now, Austin Butler is set to don cycling shorts and take on the life story of Lance Armstrong in a brand new biopic. The untitled project will be handled by Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger, with a script penned by King Richard’s Zach Baylin.
Deadline reports that Butler is in final talks to take on the role of Armstrong, whose incredible cycling career ended after an investigation confirmed that the seven-time Tour de France winner had been taking performance-enhancing drugs. The fallout saw Armstrong stripped of his titles and receive a lifetime ban from all sanctioned bicycling events.
The rights to Armstrong’s life story have been acquired by former Netflix film chief Scott Stuber, who is producing the movie, sparking a bidding war among studios to secure the project. The venture comes at an interesting time, given that the biopic was already in motion before Stuber recently signed a first-look deal with United Artists. As a result, the Amazon-owned studio can certainly submit a bid, but it may not be the one that ultimately secures it.
This is another massive project added to a to-do list of equally interesting movies Butler is linked to. Besides the Armstrong biopic, he’s also up to remake American Psycho and might appear in Heat 2, which will be directed by Michael Mann. Speaking of Mann, Butler will also be teaming up with Michael B. Jordan for a new big-screen version of Miami Vice, which will be directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski.
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