The Armstrong Lie

Alex Gibney began filming in 2009, when Lance Armstrong returned to professional cycling aiming for an eighth Tour de France title. The project was set aside as doping allegations against Armstrong gained ground, then revived after he admitted in 2013 to using performance-enhancing drugs. The film follows that reversal: a comeback story that became an account of how one of sport's most celebrated careers came apart, built on interviews with Armstrong, former teammates and others close to him.

Gibney directs and wrote the screenplay with Peter Elkind; Frank Marshall, Gibney and Matt Tolmach produced. The film runs 124 minutes and was released in September 2013, placing it between Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (2012) and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015) in Gibney's directing career. Armstrong appears as himself, alongside Betsy Andreu, Frankie Andreu, Reed Albergotti, Johan Bruyneel and Daniel Coyle.

On IMDb the film holds 7/10 from 141 votes, while critics' reviews average 6.9/10 across 122 reviews, so critical and audience assessments sit close together.