Bradley Cooper May Play Lance Armstrong in Yet Another Biopic

Earlier this year, Bradley Cooper staunchly denied that he was being cast in a Lance Armstrong biopic being produced by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot production company, calling the rumors "nuts." That story has taken on a bizarre new turn now that Cooper is in talks to join a completely different film about the life of the controversial cyclist, which means he may headline a film that is a direct competitor to the film he was supposedly going to join.

This particular Armstrong biopic, which is being produced by Warner Bros. with Jay Roach attached to direct, is titled 'Red Blooded American.' So don't confuse it with Abrams' film, which will be based on the book 'Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong.' However, neither of those films should be confused with director Stephen Frears' Lance Armstrong biopic, which is looking to begin filming in a few months with Ben Foster in the lead role.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen: there are three dueling Lance Armstrong biopics. Remember the good old days when all we had to worry about were two dueling Truman Capote movies?

Anyway, Deadline reports that Cooper is joining 'Red Blooded American' as a producer first, but he may snag the Armstrong role if the stars align. There's also a chance Cooper may gravitate toward the role of Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's teammate who revealed that the seven time Tour de France champion was using illegal drugs. Since Cooper has been pursuing a lot of awards-friendly roles lately, we fully expect he'll take the Armstrong role. It's the king of juicy part that gets actors golden statuettes.

It'll be interesting to watch how 'Red Blooded American' deals with all of the Lance Armstrong-related competition, and it'll be even more interesting to see how all three films measure up to one another when they're all finished (if they all actually make it in front of the camera, of course). Thankfully, the Lance Armstrong story is dramatic enough to have all kinds of interpretations, so we may actually end up with three very interesting (and very different) films.