Actor got into character for Lance Armstrong film by taking PEDs. Really.

You may have heard there’s a new movie coming out later this year called The Program, which chronicles the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong. If the trailer is any indication, it should be an interesting film:

But if you’re not sold by a 90 second trailer, perhaps Ben Foster’s commitment to playing Lance Armstrong will do the trick. You see, he didn’t just dye his hair and pick up a Texas accent, he told The Guardian he actually started taking performance-enhancing drugs to prepare for the role:

When Ben Foster admits to using performance-enhancing drugs in preparation for his latest film, he says it so casually that it takes a moment to register the confession. “I don’t want to talk about the names of the drugs I took,” he explains, sitting across from me in blue jeans and white shirt in a Paris hotel suite. “Even discussing it feels tricky because it isn’t something I’d recommend to fellow actors. 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.”

While Foster did admit they “helped” he also was quick to mention the negative effects in the interview:

Foster remarked last year that he “lost his f***ing marbles” while making The Program. “There’s a fallout,” he tells me. “Doping affects your mind. 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 ...” He shakes his head. “I’ve only just recovered physically. I’m only now getting my levels back.”

Let’s just hope Foster’s next role isn’t playing Jose Canseco.