POTATO ON THE GO NEWS FEED (Movie):
The Program, director Stephen Frears's latest film, will likely go down as the most in-depth, uncanny depiction of the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong to date. Credit goes to actor Ben Foster, who went to insane lengths to become Lance, taking on intense months of training, riding the most treacherous legs of the Tour de France while filming, dramatically fluctuating his weight by 30 pounds to portray every point of his career, from the top of the podium to the battle with cancer, and even going on his own regimen of performance-enhancing drugs "to more deeply understand what this world was about," Foster says between screenings at the Zurich Film Festival. He did everything but speak with the film's subject man-to-man. "In so many words, Lance Armstrong was not interested in talking with me. I couldn't blame him at all. I wouldn't have wanted to talk with me either."
Did playing Lance Armstrong give you a newfound appreciation for cycling?
I appreciate the rigor it demands, but I have not been on a bicycle since we finished shooting because I've been pretty deeply traumatized. I hadn't cycled before and only had a limited amount of time to train. Simply said it was an aggressive training process.
