Lance Armstrong Page 2

Ben Foster will play the part of Lance Armstrong in Stephen Frear’s biopic, and he will be joined by Chris O’Dowd, who’ll play journalist David Walsh, who campaigned tirelessly to expose the biggest cheating scandal in the world of sport, Deadline report.

Ben Foster and Chris O'Dowd will both star in the untitled biopic

Foster, while bearing a resemblance to the disgraced cyclist, has seen his reputation grow of late with performances in Kill Your Darlings – alongside Daniel Radcliffe - and Lone Survivor, which also stars Mark Wahlberg. The Irish actor O’Dowd has become a household name stateside due to his performances in Bridesmaids and the popular sitcom, Girls.

Continue reading: Ben Foster To Play Lance Armstrong In Biopic, Chris O'Dowd, His Nemesis, David Walsh

Lance Armstrong’s story is an implausible, unbelievable, incredible, but none of those adjectives would be applicable if the following wasn’t: it’s true. In The Armstrong Lie, Gibney admits to rooting for the shamed cyclist, before discovering – along with the rest of the world – that he’d been cheating.

Lance Armstrong tells his side in The Armstrong Lie

Famed for his insightful, thought-provoking documentaries that explore some of the biggest happenings in culture, sport, politics and crime – even though those spectrums often collide – the route that lead Gibney to his Armstrong piece wasn’t typical.

Continue reading: 'The Armstrong Lie': An Incredible Story Of Denial And Power, Told By Alex Gibney [Trailer]

In the wake of his highly publicized outing as a drugs cheat, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has sold his Austin estate to an oil-and-gas rights agent for an undisclosed amount. A deed of trust filed with Travis County last week showed Mr Al Koehler obtained a loan of $3.1 million to buy the property - the cyclist's home since 2004. The country tax rolls lists the property's value at around $3.9 million, though local real estate agents say the house was listed at $10 million. In an email to the American-Statesman, oil tycoon Koehler said he paid nothing close to that value, though it's unclear whether his sizeable loan will cover the full amount.

Mr Koehler is a found of Royalty Clearinghouse, which buys oil and gas royalties and mineral rights on behalf of clients, according to the Associated Press. Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins confirms the sale and said Lance plans to remain an Austin resident. The cyclist was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in August and is now banned for life from sports. After an investigation spanning several years, he finally admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during an interview with American television personality Oprah Winfrey. 

It leaves Armstrong in a precarious situation financially, partly because of lost sponsorships and companies seeking money back, and also because of the damages paid to the cyclist in previous court cases. Last week, Armstrong asked a Texas court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Dallas promotions company seeking repayment of more than $12 million in bonuses paid for winning the Tour de France.

Continue reading: Armstrong Sells Estate To Wealthy Oil Tycoon (Photos)

Denzel Washington has drawn comparisons between his character Whip in Flight, and the disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, as he continues the promotional build for what he hopes will be a crowning moment at the Oscars next month.

Washington is nominated in the best leading actor category at the Academy awards, which take place on February 24, 2013, and he was talking to members of the press, including the Daily Telegraph about his character, who successfully crashed landed a plane, only to register positive for having alcohol in his blood just moments after crashing. Armstrong, of course, has been found to have doped in each of his seven Tour De France wins between 1999 and 2005, and looks like being banned from his sport for life.

“I was watching this Lance Armstrong interview and, man, and talk about life imitating art. His interview is like the hearing scene [in Flight]” Washington exclaimed. Talking about Armstrong’s similar reactions, he commented “He’s wiggling and he’s crossing his legs and the jig is up … and he’s got Oprah on the other side of the room, and she’s saying ‘yes or no? yes or no? Did you or did you not?’ and he’s like ‘Well…’” Continuing, he added “Maybe Whip that had same kind of an ego on him and the same drive … just the fact he thought, well not thought could get away with it – he was getting away with it!”

Continue reading: Denzel Washington Compares Flight's Whip To Lance Armstrong

Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong dated from 2003 until 2006, before breaking off their engagement. However, during the relationship, Armstrong rode in the Tour de France twice - and won both times. It has since emerged that the disgraced cycling took performance enhancing drugs during both races, catapulting country singer Crow into the spotlight.

Celebuzz.com has learned that the nine-time Grammy winner was named twice in affidavits submitted to the United States Anti-Doping Association, which blew the whistle on the Tour de France winner. According to Armstrong's former teammate Frankie Andreu, the cyclist summoned him to a room in 2004 in a bid to persuade him to convince his wife Betsy to sign a statement retracting her claim that Armstrong told doctors treating him for cancer that he'd taken steroids, human growth hormone, cortisone and EPO. The hospital admission was first reported in a 2004 book co-written by Irish journalist David Walsh titled L.A. Confidentiel, which was only published in in French. In it, Andreu claimed "Lance called me to his room to discuss the situation. He told me that Bill Stapleton (Armstrong's agent) wanted to talk to me about the hospital room and have my wife sign a statement of support for Lance saying the hospital incident did not happen. His girlfriend at the time, Sheryl Crow, was in the room and I felt uncomfortable talking about this in front of her so I did not say much."

It's the first time that Crow, 50, has been directly implicated in Armstrong's doping conspiracy. In an interview to air on Tuesday (January 22, 2013), the country singer tells Entertainment Tonight, "I think that honesty is always the best bet and that the truth will set you free. To carry around a weight like that would be devastating in the long run." She said she caught "bits and pieces" of Armstrong's much-hyped interview with Oprah Winfrey last week.

Continue reading: Sheryl Crow And Lance: Country Star Knew About Doping?

Lost creator Jj Abrams is set to begin work on a biopic on disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, with Paramount and Bad Robot Productions (which is owned by Abrams) snapping up the rights to an upcoming biopic on the cyclist's life by New York Post journalist Juliet Macur.

Macur's book, Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong, has been in the works since last November when publishing house HarperCollins signed up the writer/journalist, who has covered the meteoric rise and catastrophic fall of Armstrong over the past decade, giving her a six-figure advance on the book. Yesterday (Jan 18), a spokesperson for the two studios unveiled the purchase of the rights to the book, although no news on who is to star, direct or write the film adaption came with the announcement. No details into when filming will comence have been issued either, although Macur's book will be published this June.

Armstrong has recently appeared in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired on her OWN network earlier this week. In it he admitted for the first time to using performance enhancing drugs following last years revelation. Earlier this year, The International Olympic Committee stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal, although he has yet to hand back any of his seven Tour de France titles.

Paramount Studios and Jj Abrams' own production company, Bad Robot, have snapped up the rights to the tell-all Lance Armstrong book Cycle of Lies, the forthcoming account of Armstrong's meteoric rise, and catastrophic fall by New York Times reporter Juliet Macur, The Hollywood Report has announced.

Following Armstrong's interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which he admitted for the first time that he had used performance enhancing drugs during his time as a professional cyclist, it seems the world is caught up in Lance Armstrong-mania once again and Macur's yet to be published account of Armstrong's career is already in the developing stages to become a movie. The book itself details the major events of the disgraced cyclist's life, from his recovery from cancer and subsequent domination of cycling in which he won his record seven Tour de France victories, before then going on to explain the inquiries into his use of performance enhancing drugs.

The book itself wont be released until the summer, with publisher HarperCollins revealing that it plans on having the book released by June. The publishers signed up Macur back in November last year, with the journalist having written extensively on Armstrong's ups and down for the New York Times over the years.

Continue reading: JJ Abrams Already Working On Lance Armstrong Film

Lance Armstrong will be quizzed by Oprah Winfrey on January 17, 2013 in what is being described as a 90-minute "no-holds-barred" interview. Winfrey will ask the disgraced cycling star to address the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's report in which there was overwhelming evidence that he was directly involved in the most sophisticated doping program the sport of cycling has ever seen. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour victories in October and speculation suggests he will come clean on Oprah's show.

The first question Oprah should ask - straight up - is whether he has ever taken performance enhancing drugs. Ok, so it's almost a non-question given the amount of evidence, but it's a chance to hear Armstrong confirm it for the first time. As The Guardian's William Fotheringham points out today, Oprah should also quiz Armstrong on the two substantial payments he made to the International Cycling Union during his racing career. Why did Armstrong make those payments? The interview will be streamed live around the world, as well as broadcast on Winfrey's OWN network in the U.S. It will air at 9pm eastern time, or 2am in the UK. 

There is already discomfort surrounding Armstrong's choice of interviewer - Oprah is likely to give the cyclist an easy ride. Her interview with Olympic drugs cheat Marion Jones was hardly a grilling, and the majority probably sympathized with the doper afterwards. Kathy LeMond, the wife of the American Tour de France winner Greg LeMond tweeted, "Oprah I hope you get educated before the interview. I know people that can help you." 

Continue reading: Lance Armstrong On Oprah Winfrey: Will He Come Clean Over Doping?