Director of the Lance Armstrong documentary said she kept in the cut finger footage because she thought 'people want to see him bleed'

• In part 2 of "Lance," the ESPN documentary on Lance Armstrong, the disgraced cyclist cuts his finger while preparing dinner. It's a really deep cut.
• The footage shows Armstrong bleeding as he and his fiancée Anna Hansen call a doctor friend to see if he should go to the hospital (the friend says to just wrap the finger tight).
• "Lance" director Marina Zenovich told Insider she wanted to keep the footage in because she felt "people want to see him bleed."
• She said the footage also shows that Armstrong struggles at doing things outside of athletics, which has been the main focus of his whole life.

On Sunday night, the second and final part of ESPN's "Lance" documentary aired and in it we delved deeper into the rise and fall of cyclist Lance Armstrong. That includes looking at his current life.

In one of the most shocking moments of the episode, director Marina Zenovich is filming Armstrong in his home as he helps his fiancée Anna Hansen prepare a salad for dinner. As he's struggling to peel cheese he cuts his finger. Really deep. He begins to bleed and the two even FaceTime with a friend who is a doctor to ask if Armstrong needs to go to the hospital. (The friend says to just wrap up the finger tightly).

Zenovich told Insider that in the edit room there was a lot of discussion on if the cut finger footage should stay in the final version of the documentary or not.

"People wanted to take it out and I was just like, 'I love this because I think people want to see him bleed,' I literally said that," Zenovich said.

Zenovich said her goal in making the documentary was to tell Armstrong's life in an honest way, but she was also well aware of the fact that he's a controversial figure. For years, Armstrong lied about doping while becoming the biggest pro cyclist in the world thanks to winning seven-straight Tour de France titles. Because of his wins and status as a cancer survivor, he wasn't just considered a hero to many but an inspiration. That is until he admitted to doping.

Armstrong lost sponsorship deals and was removed from the board of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now the Livestrong Foundation). For some viewers, watching Armstrong cut his finger may feel like another small moment of karmic justice.

Zenovich also pointed out that the scene also addresses something else: Armstrong's lack of understanding of things outside of cycling.

"In the footage, he's trying to help but he doesn't really know how to," she told Insider. "He doesn't know how to use a cheese peeler. That was so shocking. It's not in the movie, but one person I interviewed told me, 'Lance went into a wind tunnel as a teenager and came out a grownup.' His whole life all he's been geared towards is being an athlete."

Read the original article on Insider