Apple Lands Lance Armstrong Movie From Austin Butler, Edward Berger And Scott Stuber Following Heated Auction

Following an auction that saw several major studios vying for rights, sources tell Deadline that Apple Original Films has crossed the finish line first in acquiring the untitled Lance Armstrong movie package starring Austin Butler as Armstrong.

Edward Berger is directing the feature, with King Richard scribe Zach Baylin penning the spec. Apple Studios will serve as the studio, with Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt producing along with Berger. Josh Glick and Zac Frognowski will serve as executive producers alongside Baylin.

Deadline first reported that the package hit the market earlier this month and added that Stuber has been working for some time to get Armstrong’s life rights; for so long, in fact, it precedes Stuber’s new United Artist deal, which is why the project is going to market instead of Amazon MGM Studios getting first dibs. After receiving nearly half a dozen offers for the package, Apple ultimately delivered the winning bid.

Prior to relaunching United Artists and setting a deal with Amazon, there were a handful of films Stuber was planning to produce separately — and this project was one of them.

Hollywood has always been enamored with the Armstrong story at it involves the highest highs and the lowest lows. Armstrong famously survived cancer and returned to the world of pro cycling, where he would go on to win the famed Tour de France seven consecutive times. Hollywood would soon fall in love with that story, with several A-listers chasing the role of a lifetime. But before that story could be told, Armstrong, after denying it for years, ultimately admitted to blood doping, ending his career.

Hollywood did end up telling that story, with Ben Foster portraying the actor as a villain in the 2015 movie The Program, which Armstrong was not a part of.

The new film, which combines elements of F1: The Movie and Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and The Wolf of Wall Street, will cover the life and career of Armstrong, capturing all the highs and lows.

The current project will also mark the first time Armstrong has signed off on his life rights. Stuber and Armstrong have a had relationship for some time, and the producer made it clear to Armstrong they needed to tell everything or he didn’t want to do the film. After many discussions over a long period, Armstrong signed off on it.

For Butler, this continues a streak of working with well-known auteurs, a list that includes Darren Aronofsky, Ari Aster and Denis Villeneuve, with Joseph Kosinski next up on Universal’s Miami Vice movie.

Stuber is currently working on several films including Lizard Music, Dwayne Johnson and Benny Safdie’s latest collaboration; a film adaptation of Freida McFadden‘s No. 1 New York Times bestselling psychological thriller The Tenant; and a new version of Highlander, based on the 1980s cult classic, starring Henry Cavill. Recent projects from Stuber include Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein for Netflix.

Butler was most recently seen in the Aronofsky crime thriller Caught Stealing. Berger is currently directing the A24 drama The Riders starring Brad Pitt. Baylin most recently co-created the hit Netflix series Black Rabbit with his partner and wife Kate Susman. They serve as co- showrunners and executive produced through their company Youngblood Pictures.

Momentum around Apple Original Films and Apple Studios continues to grow coming off the success of the Oscar-nominated Best Picture F1, which is also produced Apple Studios. Apple’s collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer and Kosinski led the filmmakers to entrust Apple Studios with their next feature, an untitled UAP project. Additional Apple Original Films produced by Apple Studios include Academy Award-nominated features The Lost Bus and Napoleon. Apple also has a steadily growing number of Apple Original Films produced by Apple Studios such as Siân Heder’s next feature Being Heumann, Outcome, an untitled Stephen Chbosky project starring Mark Wahlberg, and Greyhound 2.

Butler is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Sloane Offfer Weber Dern, and Berger is represented by CAA, Range Media Partners, Casarotto Ramsay and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner Auerbach Hynick Jaime LeVine Sample & Klein. Baylin is represented by CAA, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.