Momentum pictures buys stephen frears the program for. Handdrawn using an a4size wacom intuos 3 pen and tablet, simon has revealed that his four cats called teddy, hugh, jess and maisie. A fake crowdpleaser from stephen frears and a true one surprise. My pursuit of lance armstrong by irish sportswriter david walsh, uses the framework of a detective yarn with the reporter assuming the role of a sort of righteous javert. The hit by stephen frears john hurt, tim roth, laura del. Director stephen frears exclusive interview the program. The program by stephen frears ben foster, chris odowd. He is the biggest reason the program has any velocity, but with frears systematic direction and john hodges rudimentary screenplay applying the breaks, the film rarely gains any traction. The director will be the 12th recipient of the jaegerlecoultre prize since its inception in 2006. Director stephen frears high fidelity has not one but two biopics out in theaters this year.
Frears has directed numerous films since the 1980s including my beautiful laundrette, dangerous liaisons, high fidelity, the queen, philomena, and florence foster jenkins. With ben foster, chris odowd, guillaume canet, jesse plemons. Ben fosters impressive efforts to channel lance armstrong are often enough to power the program past director stephen frears frustrating unwillingness to delve deeper into its reallife story. The program awful title is the most generic, uninteresting and badly edited sportsman biopic in my viewing history. With this conviction, he starts hunting for evidence that will expose armstrong. Irish sports journalist david walsh odowd grows suspicious of professional cyclist lance armstrong fosters success, certain that he has been taking performanceenhancing drugs.
Momentum pictures and directv said stephen frears lance armstrong biopic the program will bow february 18 on the satellite service ahead of its march 18 theatrical release. Stefan pape from heyuguys interviews director stephen frears for his movie the program based on the book walsh wrote on the lance. From academy award nominated director stephen frears the queen, philomena comes the true story of the meteoric rise and fall of lance armstrong, one of the most celebrated and controversial men in recent history. Ben foster and chris odowd star in this sports drama about the lance armstrong doping scandal which was the subject of david walshs book seven deadly sins. Stephen arthur frears born 20 june 1941 citation needed is an english film and television director. Stephen frears new film philomena stars dame judi dench and steve coogan. The films mechanizations are more journalistic fitting since its protagonist is the irish sportswriter david walsh, who helped tumble armstrongs house of cards and whose book seven deadly sins serves as the films primary source material. The program never reclines armstrong on the analysts couch to probe the psychological underpinnings of his need to succeed at any cost. When you register to our service, youll enjoy instant access to stephen frearss agent giving you the opportunity to contact her team in a matter of moments.
Stefan pape from heyuguys interviews director stephen frears for his movie the program based on the book walsh wrote on the lance armstrong. As an irish sportswriter chris odowd digs into the truth behind his success, one of armstrongs teammates jesse plemons contemplates. Armed with a keen visual awareness and compelling ability to tell a story, director stephen frears became established in british cinema and television during the 1970s and 1980s before receiving international acclaim for my beautiful laundrette 1986. Director stephen frears robert siegel talks with director stephen frears. Much beloved and a never ending source of amusement, simons cat is a popular animated cartoon series by the british animator simon tofield featuring a hungry house cat who uses increasingly heavyhanded tactics to get its owner to feed it. The program, a docudrama on the fall of lance armstrong. Stephen frears, in full stephen arthur frears, born june 20, 1941, leicester, england, english film and television director known for movies that explore social class through sharply drawn characters frears worked as an assistant director in theatre and film while directing numerous television plays. Victoria and abdul is directed by veteran filmmaker stephen frears, of high fidelity, dirty pretty things, the queen, tamara drewe, philomena, the program, and florence foster jenkins previously. Stephen frears retells cyclings lance armstrong fiasco as a classic. Ben foster, chris odowd, jesse plemons, stephen frears, tracey seaward.
In 1971 he directed his first feature film, gumshoe. Following a move to hollywood, he made dangerous liaisons 1988 and the grifters 1990, for. British director stephen frears, who exhibited an acutely honed insight into the private lives of public figures with 2006s the queen, at least. The first picture of the film was released yesterday monday 16th july and shows the two british actors in an evidently. The program was recently released, but the lance armstrong biopic was a disappointment, despite a. The doping scandal that turned cyclist lance armstrong from hero to villain is the focus for director stephen frears here, but the man behind the headlines played by ben foster remains. Alan gregory, the psychologist, is peripheral until the end of the book.
The film is based on walshs book seven deadly sins. The script by trainspottings john hodge, based on the book seven deadly sins. Director stephen frears and screenwriter john hodge have turned the story into a schematic. Lee pace, ben foster, chris odowd, jesse plemons, stephen frears, tracey seaward, kate solomon, tim bevan, eric fellner. Hugh grant is set to play a disgraced british politician in truestory drama a very english scandal, the bbc said monday. Two scenes in the program, stephen frearss patchy docudrama tracing the rise and fall of the disgraced cyclist lance armstrong tell you all you need to know about this crude cinematic. The moment it became clear lance armstrong was finally going to admit to doping during his cycling career, hollywood immediately jumped in and put several biopics in the works. The project will reunite grant with director stephen frears. My pursuit of lance armstrong, a book by david walsh. Wickedly tart and funny biographical portrait of the seesaw relationship between playwright joe orton and his jealous lover kenneth halliwell.
The program ebook by david walsh official publisher page. From academy award nominated director stephen frears comes the true story. From academy award r nominated director stephen frears the queen, philomena and producers working title films the theory of everything, everest, tinker tailor soldier spy, comes the true. The american cyclist tyler hamilton, who was a teammate of armstrongs, wrote a book. Lance armstrong film the program is a crime story, says director stephen frears. The most intriguing part of stephen frears the program, a biopic charting armstrongs rise and fall from grace based on irish sports journalist david walshs book seven deadly sins, is that. In this stephen frears film, ben foster plays armstrong, the cyclist. Stephen frears to be honored at venice film festival. This is the 9th book in stephen whites series with psychologist alan gregory and a cast of characters that we have come to know over the previous eight books. The program by david walsh the tiein edition of the stunning film, directed by stephen frears and starring chris odowd moone boy, the it crowd as david. The extraordinary sam frears life and style the guardian. Director stephen frears exclusive interview the program youtube. The program working title icon is a 2015 biographical drama film about lance armstrong directed by stephen frears, starring ben foster as armstrong and chris odowd as journalist david walsh. It premiered at the 2015 toronto international film festival on 14 september 2015 and was theatrically released in france on 16 september and the.
The mountain between us and my little pony counterprogram the scifi sequel. Frears has directed numerous films since the 1980s including my. Stephen frears was born on june 20, 1941 in leicester, leicestershire, england as stephen arthur frears. Stephen frears the program is a crime film, a very. Lance armstrong film the program is a crime story, says. The program working title icon is a 2015 biographical drama film about lance armstrong directed by stephen frears, starring ben foster as armstrong and chris odowd as journalist david walsh the film is based on walshs book seven deadly sins. That film has finally arrived, but its adapted from walshs 2012 book seven deadly. Director stephen frears sees his lance armstrong movie the program, which world premieres on sunday at the toronto film festival, as a crime story, while tim bevan, one of the films. The difference with this book is that it has little to do with alan gregory or any of the other characters. The program introduces a slightly different format insofar as new characters carry a great deal of the book, and their stories as presented in the first person. Gary oldman, alfred molina, vanessa redgrave, wallace shawn, julie walters. This relatively early feature effort from stephen frears set the tone for his justly celebrated the grifters six years later, but it also stands on its own as an acute psychological mood piece. Leicester, england known for his mordant sense of humor, he became a leading director of the 1980s with a string of critical successes including my beautiful launderette 1985, sammy and rosie get laid 1987, and prick up your ears 1987.
It was nearly two years ago that the first image from stephen frears lance armstrong movie the program arrived. The first to arrive is the program, directed by stephen frears and with ben foster in the lead role. Comic actor chris odowd brings his likable everygeezer sensibility to this intrepid seeker of the truth that no one who worships. Despite its midsized cast and its variety of settings, from british courtrooms to the spanish countryside, the hit summons up a claustrophobic intensity from the tensionfraught. Stephen frears is one of the highestprofile international directors working, but his oeuvre which includes a royalist drama the queen, a recordstore comedy. To unlock contact details for stephen frearss agent and stephen frearss management staff, simply log in or register online today. Not only is there way too little focus on the cycling itself it is not as if the diminutive runtime allows the exploration of an almost two decades spanning career, but the supposed protagonist david walsh is reduced to a. Stephen frears celebrity profile check out the latest stephen frears photo gallery. The ironic filmmaking of stephen frears by lesley brill book hollywoods best film directors visual the privilege of crisis. He has been nominated for two academy awards for best director.
802 821 192 761 576 1018 93 1600 1500 1279 1439 1236 365 798 831 66 264 431 1597 530 342 549 650 613 411 1400 1310 1458 1540 1340 308 204 771 903 1105 390 1431 532 344 230