Filmmaker Alex Gibney thought he had the definitive documentary in 2009 when he was telling the story of cyclist Lance Armstrong's comeback from retirement.
Unfortunately - or fortunately, based on the time Gibney needed to wrap up his movie - allegations about Armstrong doping, his subsequent lifetime ban from the sport and confession - drastically altered Gibney's final product, titled "The Armstrong Lie."
Extramustard.SI.com asked Gibney how close he was to scrapping the entire movie after the theme of Armstrong's story drastically changed.
"The big question was whether we should keep any of it," Gibney told extramustard.SI.com. "That was one thought - just to junk it all-though we realized that we had something special, and exclusive. The final film ends up being the anatomy of a lie, and you can't really see that unless you see what happened in 2009. So we ended up keeping a lot of 2009 both because it shows the anatomy of a lie, but also what makes that lie possible-how it hides in plain sight-and one of those things is how people root for charismatic athletes. Changing the focus of the film was difficult and frustrating at times, but at the end of the day I think the film that came out of it was more powerful than the original one."
To give an example, Gibney released a scene deleted from the movie on YouTube, when Armstrong crashed and was consulting with his doctors about how soon he could come back.
"That scene was very important in the comeback story," Gibney said. "It was a bumpy road back, so in the context of that story, it was an important scene. But in the context of understanding the anatomy of a lie, it wasn't as critical. It was interesting, but sometimes you have to take your stuff and put it on the cutting room floor because it doesn't fit the new story."
"The Armstrong Lie" went on sale on DVD and Blu Ray on Thursday.
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In 2009, Academy Award®-winning director Alex Gibney (2007, Best Documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side) was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong’s comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong’s confession. THE ARMSTRONG LIE picks up in 2013 after Armstrong was stripped of his 7 Tour de France titles, and presents a riveting, insider’s view of the unraveling of the greatest deception in sports history.
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