The Program (2015 film)

The Program
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Frears
Produced by	Tim Bevan Eric Fellner Tracey Seaward Kate Solomon
Screenplay by	John Hodge
Based on	Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh
Starring	Ben Foster Chris O'Dowd Guillaume Canet Jesse Plemons Lee Pace Denis Ménochet Dustin Hoffman
Music by	Alex Heffes
Cinematography	Danny Cohen
Edited by	Valerio Bonelli
Production companies	Anton Capital Entertainment Working Title
Distributed by	StudioCanal
Release date	14 September 2015 (2015-09-14) (TIFF) 16 September 2015 (2015-09-16) (France) 14 October 2015 (2015-10-14) (United Kingdom)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United Kingdom France
Language	English
Box office	$3 million

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 O'Dowd as journalist David Walsh.

The film is based on Walsh's book Seven Deadly Sins. It premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on 14 September 2015 and was theatrically released in France on 16 September and the United Kingdom on 14 October.

Screenwriter John Hodge has said that he primarily based his screenplay on Seven Deadly Sins, in addition to other journalism and affidavits from cyclists. Hodge says he ruled out using Armstrong's own accounts of his behavior during this period, and that scenes shown from Armstrong's perspective are fiction.

Lee Pace joined the cast in November 2013.Dustin Hoffman joined the cast in December 2013.

To better understand his role, Foster took performance enhancing drugs while shooting the film.

Principal photography began in October 2013.

The Program grossed $3 million worldwide. It was released for U.S. rental on DirecTV on 19 February 2016, with a theater release date on 18 March 2016.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 59%, based on 94 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ben Foster's impressive efforts to channel Lance Armstrong are often enough to power The Program past director Stephen Frears' frustrating unwillingness to delve deeper into its real-life story." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".