By Cheyenne Spokes
The heavily-rumoured casting of Hollywood heart-throb Matt Damon as Lance Armstrong in the forthcoming biopic about the seven time Tour de France winner has come to nothing after the 35 year old decided to dramatically quit the project in favour of another screen role.
Damon, star of hit movies such as Ocean's Eleven, the Bourne Identity and Saving Private Ryan, was long considered the prime choice of Armstrong.
Indeed Armstrong's dramatic recovery from a near-fatal illness seemed both the ideal Hollywood plot and a perfect vehicle for Damon's talents. Although the two look nothing alike, the movie star was reportedly in heavy training for the role, going on long bike rides with Armstrong in a bid to lose weight, gain fitness and build the technical skill to convincingly portray the multiple Tour champ on screen.
"Man, I'm even shaving my legs," Damon reportedly said in an as-yet unpublished interview with celebrity reporter April Fibbs.
Details are still sketchy about what happened to his involvement with the project, but according to the unrivalled journal of record, National Enquirer, Damon and Armstrong failed to see eye to eye in a number of areas. These rumours include reports that:
- Damon INSISTED that Michelle Pfeiffer play Armstrong's mother.
- He DEMANDED that Jessica Alba play Armstrong's former wife Kristin, and
- He EXPRESSED A STRONG preference for the casting of Vanessa Paradis as Sheryl Crow, despite the fact that the singer is not actually French.
