There’s method acting, and then there’s something else altogether. For Stephen Frears‘ forthcoming Lance Armstrong biopic The Program, star Ben Foster deeply immersed himself in his character. Ahead of a Toronto International Film Festival premiere, the actor reveals he actually took performance-enhancing drugs as a new full-length trailer arrives for the drama.
“I don’t want to talk about the names of the drugs I took. Even discussing it feels tricky because it isn’t something I’d recommend to fellow actors. These are very serious chemicals and they affect your body in real ways. For my own investigation it was important for me privately to understand it. And they work,” Foster tells The Guardian. “There’s a fallout. Doping affects your mind. It doesn’t make you feel high. There are behaviours when you’ve got those chemicals running through your body that serve you on the bike but which, when you’re not… I’ve only just recovered physically. I’m only now getting my levels back.”
Also starring Lee Pace, Chris O’Dowd, Dustin Hoffman, and Jesse Plemons, check out the new trailer below.
He was one of the biggest sports heroes of our time: Lance Armstrong has revolutionized in the nineties with his team the sport of cycling, he won seven times alone in the Tour de France. With his fight against cancer, he became the charismatic icon of millions. But then the truth of his success is revealed: The sports journalist David Walsh covers a system of lies and cheating on … After “The Queen”, director Stephen Frears focuses again a cult figure of the present and shows how close greatness and megalomania often to each other. A fascinating portrait with US actor Ben Foster as Armstrong worthy of an Oscar occupied.
The Program premieres at TIFF and is awaiting a U.S. release date.