A Working Title Production a Stephen Frears Film Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tracey Seaward and Kate Solomon Screenplay
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A Working Title production A Stephen Frears film Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Tracey Seaward and Kate Solomon Screenplay by John Hodge Inspired by the book Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by David Walsh STARRING Ben Foster Chris O’Dowd Guillaume Canet Jesse Plemons Denis Ménochet Lee Pace Edward Hogg And Dustin Hoffman PUBLICITY & PRESS CONTACTS Vértigo Films Phone: 915 240 819 Fernando Lueches [email protected] Borja Moráis [email protected] "Lance Armstrong surveyed the cycling landscape and thought ‘you can't win without doping’. He had to do it and he believed his teammates had to do it. So, on the US Postal team they established a system of cheating through performance enhancing drugs. It became The Program and if you were on the team you had to be on The Program." - DAVID WALSH – author of ‘Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong’ SHORT SYNOPSIS From Academy Award® nominated director Stephen Frears (The Queen, Philomena) and producers Working Title Films (The Theory Of Everything, Everest, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), comes the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of one of the most celebrated and controversial men in recent history; Lance Armstrong, the world-renowned Tour de France champion. The world needs heroes and Lance Armstrong was the ultimate sporting hero. Following a gruelling battle with cancer, Lance returned to his cycling career in 1999 more determined than ever and with his sights set firmly on winning the Tour de France. With the help of the infamous Italian physician Michele Ferrari and team director Johan Bruyneel, he developed the most sophisticated doping program in the history of the sport. This program allowed Lance and his American teammates to dominate the world of cycling, winning the Tour an unprecedented seven times. However not everyone believed the fairytale…Sunday Times journalist, David Walsh, at first charmed by Lance’s charisma and talent, soon began to question whether the ‘world’s greatest athlete’ was ‘clean’. Walsh sought to unveil the truth, his ensuing battle with Armstrong risked his own career, ostracised him from the cycling community and cost his paper, The Sunday Times, hundreds of thousands in legal costs. But the indefatigable Walsh eventually uncovered the truth when a select few prepared to talk came forward, exposing one of the greatest deceptions of our time. Inspired by the award winning book ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ by David Walsh, and featuring a stellar cast including Ben Foster (Lone Survivor), Chris O'Dowd (Calvary), Guillaume Canet (Tell No One) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad), THE PROGRAM is a tense and suspenseful thriller. 3 LONG SYNOPSIS It is 1993 and 21 year old Lance Armstrong (Ben Foster) is making his debut in the Tour De France. The Sunday Times journalist, David Walsh (Chris O’Dowd) interviews the young Lance over a game of table football. Lance is determined and hugely self-confident, as well as extremely competitive. Chatting with his press colleagues afterwards, David tells them how cocky Lance was. When they ask if he is a contender, David says he absolutely is – in the one day classic races. On the starting line at a Belgian one day race, Johan Bruyneel (Denis Menochet) tells the young upstart Lance that he will never win as others have more red cells in their blood – they are doping. The race plays out as Bruyneel predicted. Meanwhile in a lecture hall, Dr Michele Ferrari (Guillaume Canet) is learning about trials of the drug EPO. During the race, Lance watches hopelessly as three members of one team drop everybody else and easily finish in the top three places. At the lecture, Ferrari asks about the use of EPO in sport, but is told that would be unethical. Ferrari shrugs. At the Belgian race press conference, Ferrari is on stage with the winners, a member of their team. Questioned as to problems with the use of EPO, he once again dismisses all concerns. Lance tries to convince his hesitant teammate Frankie Andreu (Edward Hogg) that they have to use EPO to be in with a chance. Lance approaches Ferrari and tells him he wants to join his “program”, but the doctor dismisses him telling him that he doesn’t have the right physique to be a good climber. Lance buys EPO for his team at a pharmacy in Switzerland. A year later, back at the Belgian one day classic, it is now Lance dropping the peloton and winning the race by a huge margin. However after the celebrations, Lance starts to cough up blood. His doctor diagnoses testicular cancer, at the third, and final, stage. Treatment begins and Lance is subjected to gruelling rounds of surgery and chemotherapy. He pushes himself even when at his lowest and tries to walk down the hospital corridor, but collapses into a wheelchair. As he recovers, Frankie and his wife Betsy (Elaine Cassidy) visit Lance in hospital. A doctor arrives for a consultation, and Lance tells his friends to stay. Lance makes a slow but determined recovery. He travels to Ferrara, Italy, to the home of Dr Ferrari. Through his illness, he has lost the weight required of him and Ferrari is convinced enough by his will to win to take him on. He subjects Lance to a huge range of tests, analysis and training exercises so that he is no longer ‘confined by the limits of his physiology’ and Lance reaches peak fitness, getting to grips with some of the substances and doping methods which would propel his career forward along the way. During this time, the so-called ‘Festina affair’ has erupted after a team soigneur has been caught with performance enhancing drugs. This has led to police raids across the Tour and the discovery that drug use is rife. Ferrari and Armstrong laugh at them for getting caught. Lance brings Bruyneel on board as director, explaining that following his illness the only team that would take him are the very minor US Postal team. Bruyneel says that they have to go out to win, and Lance says that after his cancer he never wants to come so close to losing again. Lance, Bruyneel and Ferrari head up the team’s rigorous training programme, at altitude. Lance reunites with agent Bill Stapleton (Lee Pace) who had spotted Lance’s commercial potential before he got sick. Bill now sees an ever more potent story, especially when Lance passionately announces that he wants to start a cancer charity. 4 It is 1999. David in his press car banters about whether this year really is to be rebranded the Tour of Renewal, after last year’s drugs farce. They say that Armstrong has risen from the dead and as an early supporter David says that he really thinks Lance can win a stage. There is jubilation when Lance does win the opening stage. David writes about the ensuing mountain stage. Wearing the winner’s yellow jersey, Lance starts to attack on the Galibier climb; he breaks away with tremendous power leaving the peloton far below. There is excitement in the press room. David alone is silent. Lance reaches the finish in Sestriere way ahead of the peloton. His previous best in the mountains was 39th. David reminds his colleagues about last year’s doping scandal and that the speeds have gone up this year, but they don’t listen. They reply that the racers wouldn’t be able to hide it. David retorts that Lance rode so fast up the steep mountain that he had to use his brakes. He talks to a young rider who, according to his physiology, should be faster than Lance and who shares his own suspicions with David. Lance then seeks out this young rider and warns him off. Taking EPO has become part of Lance’s regular race time routine. Motorman delivers the drugs and the team take them in a systematic way. Lance is blasé, asking his soigneur Emma O’Reilly (Laura Donnelly) to dispose of his needles. The TV commentators confidently talk about how the riders are now clean. Lance asks Emma to cover the needle mark on his arm. When the so-called ‘vampires’, the UCI drugs testers, come to check Lance, they are duped into waiting, during which interval Lance is hooked up to a drip to dilute the presence of substances. Emma is massaging Lance when he takes a call to say that one of his tests has come back positive for testosterone. He deals with the problem by ordering a pre-dated prescription of a saddle sore cream, and then jokes that Emma knows enough to bring him down. Whilst promoting his Livestrong cancer charity, Lance recalls the moment in the hospital where he attempted to walk down the corridor but in his retelling of the story, he refuses the wheelchair. The next year, he wins the Tour again. At a book signing of his autobiography It’s Not About the Bike, Lance seems to feel uneasy around the cancer survivors that he has inspired. Dr Ferrari is raided by the police and charged with criminal conspiracy. This news strengthens David’s case against Lance being clean as he knows that Lance had visited Ferrari before his comeback, but the doctor is notably absent in Lance’s book. David is granted an interview with Lance, but Lance turns up with Bill at his side, and in abrasive form. And still the newspaper won’t run a story by David for lack of hard evidence. Rising star Floyd Landis (Jesse Plemons) is signed to the US Postal team, and tasked with protecting Lance.