Dustin Hoffman is set to join the peloton of Stephen Frears' Lance Armstrong biopic, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The untitled film—one of several projects about Armstrong currently in the works—is shooting on location in Europe, and Hoffman will join production when it moves to the U.S. The film stars Ben Foster as Armstrong and Chris O’Dowd as David Walsh, the journalist who helped uncover Armstrong’s doping scandal. Guillaume Canet, Jesse Plemons, and Lee Pace will also star in the film from Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge.
In an interesting bit of trivia, Hoffman actually accompanied the 1984 Tour de France as research for a cycling film called The Yellow Jersey that was never completed. Hoffman’s role in the Armstrong film hasn't been announced, but that doesn’t stop us from speculating: Perhaps he'll play famed cycling commentators Paul Sherwen or Phil Liggett, or even Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx—one of the four riders to hold the title for most Tour de France wins after Armstrong was stripped of his victories. Or maybe the film will take a page from X-Men: Days Of Future Past, and Hoffman will star as an older version of Armstrong who travels back in time to stop himself from doping, thus preserving Armstrong as an American legend rather than a punchline.