Curiously detached, The Program offers a brief, conventional view of Armstrong, failing to illuminate his persona, which was far mor eccentric and troubled than offered here.
Grade: C (*1/2* out of *****)
As Lance Armstrong, Ben Foster, one of Hollywood’s most versatile yet underestimated actors, elevates considerably The Program, Stephen Frears’s frustrating biopic of the controversial cyclist.
To better understand his role, Foster. a Method actor, took performance-enhancing drugs while shooting the film.
Director Frears had the idea to make a film about Lance Armstrong after reading a review of Tyler Hamilton’s book, The Secret Race. Unable to acquire the rights for Hamilton’s book, he settled on Walsh’s Seven Deadly Sins instead, and tasked John Hodge to write the script, partly because of Hodge’s experience as a doctor.
Hodge has said that he based his screenplay primarily on Seven Deadly Sins, in addition to other journalism and affidavits from cyclists.
Hodge ruled out using Armstrong’s own accounts of his behavior during this period, and that the scenes shown from Armstrong’s perspective are fiction.
The Program (previously titled “Icon”), world premiered at the 2015 Toronto Film Fest to mixed reviews, due to the script’s shallow treatment of its (anti)hero.
In one of his weakest features to date, Frears goes through the motions, without showing much affinity or excitement for the material.
Needless tosay, the movie was a commercial flop.
Cast
Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong
Chris O’Dowd as David Walsh
Guillaume Canet as Michele Ferrari
Jesse Plemons as Floyd Landis
Lee Pace as Bill Stapleton
Denis Menochet as Johan Bruyneel
Dustin Hoffman as Bob Hamman
Edward Hogg as Frankie Andreu
Elaine Cassidy as Betsy Andreu
Laura Donnelly as Emma O’Reilly
Sam Hoare as Stephen Swart
Kevin Hulsmans as Filippo Simeoni[6]
John Schwab as Travis Tygart
Lucien Guignard as Alberto Contador
Nicolas Robin as Christophe Bassons
James Harkness as Wayne
Josh O’Connor as Rich
Nathan Wiley as Charles Pelkey
