- "
Lance " director Marina Zenovich talked to Insider about the process to get the truth out ofLance Armstrong while filming him for 18 months. - Zenovich believes the movie captures him at his most honest due to the moment in his life.
- He had just settled a $5 million federal fraud case.
- However, Zenovich said it was still a process to get everything out of the disgraced cyclist.
- Part 1 of the 2-part "Lance" documentary airs on Sunday at 9pm ET.
It has been seven years since Lance Armstrong sat down with Oprah Winfrey and admitted to the world that he had used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
The aftermath was one of the biggest downfalls in
Within 48 hours of the Winfrey interview, all of Armstrong's endorsement deals were gone and he resigned from the Livestrong Foundation, the cancer survivor's renowned non-profit that provides support for people affected by cancer.
However, in the career-spanning two-part
But after years of lying to everyone should we believe anything he says now?
"Lance" director Marina Zenovich ("Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," "Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind") admits when she was offered the documentary by ESPN Films in January 2018 she wondered the same thing.
"My first thought was 'Why?'" Zenovich told Insider.
However, after a conversation with VP and executive producer of ESPN Films Libby Geist, Zenovich was all in on the project. And in February 2018 she went to meet with Armstrong. Zenovich said Armstrong's sudden interest to be truthful about his past was evident in recent podcast interviews he had done and ESPN wanted Armstrong to talk like never before for their cameras while he was still in the mood to be open. Zenovich said her meet-up with Armstrong was brief but quickly showed that he would be great on camera.
A month later, Zenovich and her crew were in a hotel suite just outside Washington, DC, preparing for the first in a series of interviews with Armstrong.
He was already two hours late.
Zenovich believes she got Armstrong at a moment in his life when he could be the most truthful
Armstrong was in DC hashing out a settlement with the federal government, which claimed he defrauded it by using performance-enhancing drugs while on the US Postal Service's cycling team.
Zenovich was all set for the first interview with Armstrong for the doc, which he agreed to do after a day of mediation with the feds in March of 2018 (in April of that year, it would be reported that Armstrong would pay $5 million to settle the federal fraud case).
At 9 p.m., Armstrong finally emerged.
"He came out and we were set up to film in the car," Zenovich said. "We asked if we can do it in the car and that's what's in the doc of him talking about the case."
With the federal case behind him, Zenovich could see that gradually Armstrong became more open to talk in their interviews.
"Despite the fact that he had to write a big check, it was over and I could feel him moving on," Zenovich said. "What I love about the film is that it captures a moment in time. I don't think he would be as open right now."
"Lance" looks at the entire career of Lance Armstrong, from coming out of nowhere at 15-years-old competing in triathlons to being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996 as he raised up the ranks of cycling, recovering, and winning the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005. The world saw him as an inspiration and he would become one of the most recognizable faces in the world, even being engaged to Sheryl Crow. But through all that the rumors about his doping were constant, and he always vehemently denied them. Until finally in 2012 the United States Anti-Doping Agency revealed that Armstrong was using PEDs throughout his career.
Armstrong speaks candidly throughout "Lance," admitting that he began taking PEDs at 21, not hiding his hatred for Floyd Landis — a fellow cyclist who accused Armstrong and others of doping — and giving vivid insight on his colossal downfall.
But despite all this great interview footage, Zenovich said she had to be vigilant of making sure Armstrong didn't spin the truth.
Zenovich said she didn't stop until she would get honest answers out of Armstrong
If there's one thing interviewers learn quickly about Lance Armstrong it's that though he gives compassionate answers, it's not always clear if he's giving honest ones.
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney experienced that first hand when he followed around Armstrong in 2009 during Armstrong's comeback to cycling only to be blindsided when Armstrong finally admitted to doping. The result is the 2013 doc "The Armstrong Lie" that looks back on Armstrong's bald-faced lies in front of Gibney during his comeback alongside more somber interviews he did with the filmmaker after the Oprah Winfrey interview.
"I watched 'The Armstrong Lie' the night before I met Lance," Zenovich said. "But a lot of time has passed since that and I felt I was going to get something that was different."
But that didn't mean Zenovich wasn't on guard.
She said the best way to show how Armstrong is in interviews is to just let the camera roll. In one exchange in "Lance," while Armstrong dances around a question you hear Zenovich say off-camera, "don't deflect."
"I would try to let him reveal himself by his own behavior and then just keep pushing him for answers," she said.
The result is a powerful two hours of television that uses archival footage of Armstrong's rise and fall mixed with interviews Zenovich did with Armstrong over 18 months where nothing was off-limits.
Zenovich is confident the true Armstrong is captured in "Lance" because there's no reason for him to lie anymore.
"Though the fall was as horrible as it was, on some level it freed him," Zenovich said. "He says in the doc, 'I needed a nuclear meltdown,' and I think that's the only thing that could have pushed him to where he is now. He has a better relationship with his kids and his fiancée has been with him for 12 years now. I honestly believe he wouldn't change a thing."
Watch the "Lance" trailer:
Read the original article on Insider