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Ben Foster says he doped to prepare for role as Lance Armstrong

Method approach extended to taking performance-enhancing drugs

The actor who plays Lance Armstrong in the upcoming Stephen Frears film, The Program, has said that he took performance-enhancing drugs as part of his research for the role. “I don’t want to talk about the names of the drugs I took,” said Ben Foster. “Even discussing it feels tricky because it isn’t something I’d recommend to fellow actors.”

Foster seems committed in his preparations for the roles he takes on. He even spent time living rough on the streets of Los Angeles ahead of a minor part as a homeless, disabled veteran in Rampart.

Speaking to The Guardian about his latest research, he said: “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 said that doping affects the mind as much as the body, adding that he felt the effects when he was off the bike as much as on it. “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…”

Referring to the ‘fallout’ from this, he said: “I don’t know how to separate the chemical influence from the psychological attachment I had to the character. If it’s working, it keeps you up at night. This is losing your marbles, right? They’re definitely rolling around. They’re under the couch but they’re retrievable.”

As well as his ‘preparation,’ Foster said he also did his best to mimic Armstrong’s riding style. “I talked to people who had the aerodynamics of his body on a computer system so I could get the hump in the back, the heels slightly out. It’s almost a duck pedal. It’s not a delicate ride. It’s violent, which is also why he’s such an exciting rider. It’s like he wants to break the bike.”

Asked why he chose Foster to play Armstrong, director Stephen Frears said: “Leo Davis, who casts all my films, suggested him. When I met Ben, he didn't know what the project was about.

“When I told him, he leapt onto the couch and went into one of Lance's poses, underneath his seven yellow Tour de France winner's jerseys. It was incredible. And then he did enormous training to make himself physically like Lance — pro cyclists are so incredibly skinny. He was phenomenally disciplined.”

Foster said that the training demanded of him gave him new-found respect for professional cyclists.

“Those guys suffer in a very specific way. It was really interesting to spend time in that community. I had no idea what it took to push the body that way.

“It's about being eight hours in the saddle. That's a lonely, ritualised – it's in circles. You're making circles. You're pushing past hunger. You're pushing past clarity of thought. It's a wild way to suffer. Your feet aren't going anywhere. You're going in circles up these impossible mountains.”

Foster’s next role will apparently be as a wizard in the upcoming video game adaptation, Warcraft.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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12 comments

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Beaufort | 8 years ago
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Not going for the full body blood transfusions then ? Pussy.

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vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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Nope, still not seeing how he sounds like a bellend.

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crikey | 8 years ago
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I think it's probably because he sounds like a bellend.

His next role is a wizard; presumably he'll be spending time trying to impress short people with hairy feet by showing them his staff...

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vonhelmet | 8 years ago
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Why the hate?

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gb901 | 8 years ago
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What a tool!

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KnightBiker | 8 years ago
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I guess by admission we can now ban him from acting for four years...

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1961BikiE | 8 years ago
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Sounds like a bit of a prick IMHO. Film could be interesting though.

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kie7077 replied to 1961BikiE | 8 years ago
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1961BikiE wrote:

Sounds like a bit of a prick IMHO. Film could be interesting though.

Perfect for the role then!

I can't say I'm not curious to know how doping would effect my cycling, the closest I've been is a can of Monster energy drink.

I cheat by chasing buses up hills!!

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DrJDog | 8 years ago
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Tom Hardy reckons _all_ muscly actors are juicing.

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cub | 8 years ago
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" it isn’t something I’d recommend to fellow actors.”

I doubt we'll see that happen, Hollywood actors are simply better humans than us. When you have the talent to change your voice to sound like someone else doing the same to your body is merely a formality.

Just look at Jake Gyllenhaal, actors don't need drugs, he gained 20kg of muscle in only 6 months, impossible for an ordinary person but when you've been an Arabic prince who can time travel it's child plays.

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Leviathan replied to cub | 8 years ago
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cub wrote:

when you've been an Arabic prince who can time travel it's child plays.

His Cock-a-knee accent was the biggest stretch in that movie.

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MartyMcCann | 8 years ago
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As Laurence Olivier was supposed to have said to Dustin Hoffman- "Why don't you just try acting, dear boy?"

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