First Look: Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong, What Do We Think? [Picture]

The first look at Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong in Stephen Frears's untitled biopic has rolled out online, showing the young American actor tearing through a likely French street in his recognisable Postal Service colours.

Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong in Stephen Frears' Untitled Project

Foster - who recently starred opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Kill Your Darlings - leads the cast as drug cheat Armstrong, while Chris O'Dowd plays journalist David Walsh. There's even an appearance from Jesse Plemons who Breaking Bad fans will recognise as Todd. 

Though most of us know the story by now, Fears's movie charts the rise of pro-cyclist Armstrong who dominated the sport in the 90s and early 2000s despite battling cancer. He won the Tour de France seven times and was revered as one of history's true sporting heroes. However, with performance enhancing drug EPO apparently rife in the sport at the time, questions were asked of Armstrong's wins and sports writer David Walsh was ostracised by the cycling community for speaking out on the star's drug use. 

A USADA report subsequently concluded that Armstrong engaged in "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen." He went on to admit his drug use in a highly-publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey, though did not go into detail. His Tour de France titles were stripped.

Principal photography on the movie began on the film on October 18. It is being produced by STUDIOCANAL who will fully finance, distribute and handle international sales.

As was expected, Fears's movie is not the only Lance Armstrong biopic being readied in Hollywood. Warner Bros and director Jay Roach are making a similar film with Oscar nominee Bradley Cooper on-board, according to Deadline.com.

Red Blooded American will see Cooper play either the disgraced cyclist or his former teammate Tyler Hamilton who blew the lid off the cyclist's drug use in his acclaimed book The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs.

Elsewhere, JJ Abrams and Bryan Burk are developing a project over at Bad Robot, based on Juliet Macur's book Cycle Of Lies: The Fall Of Lance Armstrong.