By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS RIDES WITH DOCUMENTARY “THE ARMSTRONG LIE”

Posted Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 - Comments Off on SONY PICTURES CLASSICS RIDES WITH DOCUMENTARY “THE ARMSTRONG LIE”
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                        

NEW YORK (July 24, 2013) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today it will be releasing Alex Gibney’s Lance Armstrong documentary, THE ARMSTRONG LIE worldwide.  The film, produced by Gibney, Frank Marshall and Matt Tolmach, tells the unfolding story of Armstrong’s life and career over the past four years.

Lance Armstrong was considered one of the greatest sports figures of all time and put competitive cycling into the global spotlight, by beating cancer and winning the Tour de France seven times.  That success earned him an immense fortune and worldwide fame.  His was also one of the most influential and inspiring sports stories of recent memory and became a pop culture phenomenon, thanks to his Livestrong initiative.  Beginning in 2009, Academy Award winning documentarian Alex Gibney followed Armstrong for four years chronicling his return to cycling after retirement, as he tried to win his eighth title.  Unexpectedly, Gibney was also there in 2012 when Armstrong admitted to doping, following a federal criminal investigation, public accusations of doping by his ex-teammates, and an investigation by the US Anti-Doping Agency, that led USADA’s CEO, Travis Tygart, to conclude that Armstrong’s team had run “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

What began as the chronicle of a comeback became an examination into the anatomy of a lie.  This film offers unparalleled access to Armstrong’s former teammates, doctors, and professionals, many of whom have never before spoken to the media about Armstrong and his bombshell doping admission – as well as unprecedented access to Armstrong himself.

“On this long-distance ride, full of unpredictable twists and turns, I learned a lot about one spectacular sport – cycling – as well as the ethic of winning at all costs that pervades most sports and society-at-large.   I’m very proud of the final film, grateful for the support and skill of my fellow producers and the legendary distribution team at Sony Pictures Classic,” said Director Alex Gibney.

\Producers Frank Marshall and Matt Tolmach added, “We set out to make a movie about a comeback — with unlimited and unprecedented access to Armstrong and the inner-workings of the Tour de France.  Along the way, we ended up chronicling the collapse of one of the greatest myths and legends of our time.”

“Alex Gibney has made an amazing movie, more revealing and with greater detail, than anything yet seen on the major controversial subject we know as Lance Armstrong.  We are pleased to be working with Alex and producers Frank Marshall and Matt Tolmach in bringing this film to audiences worldwide,” stated Sony Pictures Classics.

 ABOUT SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

Michael Barker and Tom Bernard serve as co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics—an autonomous division of Sony Pictures Entertainment they founded with Marcie Bloom in January 1992, which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from around the world.

Barker and Bernard have released prestigious films that have won 31 Academy Awards (27 of those at Sony Pictures Classics) and have garnered 135 Academy Award nominations (109 at Sony Pictures Classics) including Best Picture nominations for AMOUR, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, AN EDUCATION, CAPOTE, HOWARDS END, AND CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. 

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; a global channel network; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of entertainment in more than 142 countries. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com/.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon