''The Program'' (working title ''Icon'') is a 2015 biographical drama film about Lance Armstrong directed by Stephen Frears, starring Ben Foster as Armstrong and Chris O'Dowd as journalist David Walsh. The film is based on Walsh's 2012 book '' Seven Deadly Sins''. It premiered at the

2015 Toronto International Film Festival The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naom ...

on 14 September 2015 and was theatrically released in France on 16 September and the United Kingdom on 14 October.

Cast

* Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong * Chris O'Dowd as David Walsh * Guillaume Canet as Michele Ferrari *

Jesse Plemons Jesse Plemons (; born April 2, 1988) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and achieved a career breakthrough with his major role as Landry Clarke in the NBC drama series '' Friday Night Lights'' (2006–2011). He subseque ...

Floyd Landis Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He finished first at the 2006 Tour de France, and would have been the third non-European winner in the event's history, but was disqualified after test ...

* Lee Pace as Bill Stapleton *

Denis Menochet Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–14 ...

as Johan Bruyneel * Dustin Hoffman as Bob Hamman * Edward Hogg as Frankie Andreu * Elaine Cassidy as

Betsy Andreu Francisco "Frankie" Andreu (born September 26, 1966) is an American former professional cyclist whose career highlights include riding as team captain of the U.S. Postal Service cycling team in 1998, 1999 and 2000. During his career, he won a n ...

* Laura Donnelly as Emma O'Reilly * Sam Hoare as Stephen Swart * Kevin Hulsmans as Filippo Simeoni * 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 Charles Pelkey (born May 30, 1958) is an American attorney, politician, and former Wyoming state legislator. A member of the Democratic Party, Pelkey represented the 45th district from 2015 to 2021. Early life and family Pelkey was born in Göpp ...

Production

Development

Director Stephen 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 instead settled on Walsh's '' Seven Deadly Sins''. Frears then turned to screenwriter John Hodge to write the script, partly because of Hodge's experience as a doctor. Hodge has said that he primarily based his screenplay on ''Seven Deadly Sins'', in addition to other journalism and affidavits from cyclists. Hodge says he ruled out using Armstrong's own accounts of his behavior during this period, and that scenes shown from Armstrong's perspective are fiction.

Casting

Lee Pace joined the cast in November 2013. Dustin Hoffman joined the cast in December 2013. To better understand his role, Foster took performance-enhancing drugs while shooting the film.

Filming

Principal photography began in October 2013.

Reception

Box office

''The Program'' grossed $3.3 million worldwide. It was released for U.S. rental on DirecTV on 19 February 2016, with a cinema release on 18 March 2016.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 62%, based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ben Foster's impressive efforts to channel Lance Armstrong are often enough to power ''The Program'' past director Stephen Frears' frustrating unwillingness to delve deeper into its real-life story." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* *
Official trailer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Program, The (2015 film) 2015 films English-language French films 2015 biographical drama films British biographical drama films French biographical drama films Cycling films Films about doping Films directed by Stephen Frears Films produced by Eric Fellner Films produced by Tim Bevan Films scored by Alex Heffes Films shot in Austin, Texas Films shot in Belgium Films shot in France Films shot in Paris Lance Armstrong Films with screenplays by John Hodge Tour de France mass media StudioCanal films Working Title Films films Doping at the Tour de France Biographical films about sportspeople Cultural depictions of cyclists Cultural depictions of American men 2015 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films 2010s French films