from velonews.com
Damon set to play Armstrong in movie
It seems a Lance Armstrong movie is finally getting off the ground. According to a report on the Star web page, actor Matt Damon is getting in shape to play the six-time Tour champion in an upcoming biopic.
According to the report, Damon is in negotiations to play Armstrong in producer Frank Marshall’s new project. Marshall was on hand during the recent Tour.
If Damon wants to even come close to looking like Lance, he’s going to have to really lean out and drop some of that muscle mass–that’s a good challenge. There was another movie he did years ago where he dropped 30 pounds–he looked like a heap of bones. I can see Damon doing a good job in the movie, being serious and hard headed–and he’s got those boyish good looks to boot.
STill though, nobody can every really play Lance. Lance is one of a kind.
Just to help out, the movie was Courage Under Fire.
Co-Starring
Arnold Schwarzenagger as Jan Ullrich
Will Farrell as Bob Roll
Rob Schneider as Fillipo Simeoni
Ben Kingsley as Dr. Ferrari
Kevin Costner as Chris Carmichael
Sheryl Crow as Herself
Will Farrell as Bob Roll
Rob Schneider as Fillipo Simeoni
That’s some good casting 
.
i though it was “the talented mr ripley”?
jimmy fallon as robin williams (for explanation, i refer you to saturday night live’s celebrity jeopardy)
jim carrey as tyler hamilton (physical comedy … or is that not funny?)
seriously, though, it’d be a crime if they didn’t use phil and paul.
to continue . . .
Ralph Fiennes as David Millar
Gwyneth Paltrow as Kristin Armstrong
Stockard Channing as Linda Armstrong (Lance’s mom)
Ben Affleck as George Hincapie
Tcheky Karyo ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001409/ ) as Johan Bruyneel
and, of course . . .
Robin Williams as Robin Williams
john candy plays ullrich…
and a coked up chimpanzee plays pantani?
“Ben Affleck as George Hincapie”
i think you may have hit the nail on the head
.
Michael,
I haven't seen The Talented Mr. Ripley so I went and found a movie preview of it. He certainly looks much thinner in that movie than he normally does. If you check out Courage Under Fire you will see him at his normal weight in the beginning of the movie and then later in the movie you see him as a downright gaunt drugie-skin and bones.
BTW-Being that I haven’t seen Mr. Ripley, is it a movie you would recommend?
Thanks,
Guy
john candy plays ullrich…
and a coked up chimpanzee plays pantani?
I was thinking of Candy for Ullrich too…but Ullrich isn’t funny and Candy is dead. Chris Farley was my choice for Tyler Hamilton but he too is alas no longer with us.
What about Gerard Depardieu as Robin Williams…2 funny fat hairy guys.
if you could fit kramer and costanza or costanza’s dad in there somehow, man that’d be good.
simeoni played by costanza, all nuerotic and giving up secrets left and right in fear. “ok, ok, i doped! are you happy now!? Everybody was doing it!”
hamilton played by kramer, falling down all over the place.
How about Mike Myers playing Ulrich as Fat Bastard(from Austin Powers)…ofcourse instead of being a Scot he would play it with a German flair.
Can you imagine all that laytex fat makeup hanging all over his Bianchi, Walser, Giant, etc.
That’s just wrong!
Poor Ulrich!
so i did a little imdb search for frank marshall, the producer…
his credits include: both bourne movies seabiscuit signs and sixth sense congo hook most importantly of all, the **back to the future **series
this could be interesting…
it just occurred to me … it’s so simple! jan ullrich MUST be played by dolf lundgren
and then, at the end, matt damon can shout from the podium in paris “everybody can change!”
How about Christopher Lloyd (as Rev. Jim Ignatosky) as Al Trautwig?
I try not to recomend movies because i often enjoy what other people wouldn’t. i watch for pure entertainent value. i really don’t want to think while watching. That said Mr, Ripley was a good movie that invloved thinking but wasn’t too heavy.
Stallone tried to capture Formula 1 in a movie and ended up with Driven. I really beleive he just wanted to hang around the pits. I think it’s very hard to capture in a movie, a real event that just happened. For those in the know, it will be so cheesy it will hurt (the cancer part would be good) for those who like the Lance story it could be good. I just picture the racing part to look just like american flyers only T-mobile will be all in black, picking on the hopeless, sad, but handsome Armstrong. Or it will be a Rocky type event.
I can see it all now and I cringe, pop culture and reality have a hard time mixing on film. See the last Charlies Angeles to get the picture. Or driven, torque, Fast and furious 2, etc.
I believe we did this exercise a couple of weeks ago:
I think the Spinal Tap guys may be taking on cycling in their next film. Just as Fred Willard was based on Joe Garagiola in “Best in Show”, Micheal McKean could be Trout Face.
The Cast (if you need help recognizing the names, consult IMDB)
In the Booth:
Michael McKean - the Know Nothing Announcer, drafted because he can read an Ironman script so convincingly some people actually think he’s a triathlete
Harry Shearer - the English Guy
Jim Piddock - the Other English Guy
Christopher Guest - Bobke
Catherine O’Hara - the Girl Who Goes Around Drinking and wants to F the “other” American Rider
In the Peloton:
John Michael Higgins - the “other” American Rider
Michael Hitchcock - the French Racer
Ed Begley, Jr. - The German Racer
In the “Good” American Rider’s trailer:
Parker Posey - the Girlfriend
Jane Lynch - the Soignuer
Larry Miller - the Coach
Eugene Levy - the Mad Scientist Gadget Man
Fred Willard - the Nike Rep
For the “American Rider” they just cut in actual Lance footage. Or maybe Lance would “Just Do It”