Austin Butler plays Lance Armstrong in big screen biopic | Austin Butler

Oscar-nominated actor Austin Butler is set to star as disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in an intriguing new biopic.

According to Deadline, the package has sparked a “frenzied” bidding war in Hollywood with Conclave director Edward Berger at the helm and King Richard’s Zach Palin set to write the script.

Producer Scott Stuber, who most recently worked on Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, has been working to secure the rights to Armstrong’s life for a while and a deal has now finally been agreed. Armstrong will star in the film but will not have a producing credit.

The hope is that the film will be a cross between F1 and The Wolf of Wall Street. Brad Pitt’s blockbuster race drama recently earned four Oscar nominations, including a surprise nod for Best Picture.

Armstrong became a global star after winning the Tour de France on seven consecutive occasions between 1998 and 2005. But an investigation in 2012 stripped him of his titles when it emerged that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. He received a lifetime ban from the sport.

His story was previously told in Stephen Frears’ 2015 drama The Program, where he was played by Ben Foster. The film was disappointing at the box office and received mixed reviews. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it “brilliant” in a three-star review.

Since receiving a Best Actor nomination for his role in Elvis, Butler has starred in The Bikeriders, Eddington, Dune: Part Two, and Caught Stealing. He has been linked to play Patrick Bateman in Luca Guadagnino’s take on American Psycho and will next appear in the crime thriller Enemies with Jeremy Allen White.

Berger followed the critical and commercial success of the papal thriller Conclave with the Netflix drama Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell. Filming began this week on a film adaptation of Tim Winton’s popular novel, The Riders, starring Brad Pitt.

In addition to writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay for King Richard, Bailin’s credits include Creed III, Gran Turismo, Bob Marley: One Love, and the recent Netflix series Black Rabbit.