This is the the Lance bomb & it's in the can

[kurtinsc]

Was this really the bombshell?

Or is it a joke?

Because I fail to see how this even rates as news. I'm betting other then die-hard Lance fans (not the generic ones who know his name and think he didn't dope but otherwise pay little attention) and di-hard Lance haters, nobody will even watch the documentary.

This isn't a fahrenheit 9/11 topic (222 million gross) or even Bowling for Columbine (58 million). Think "Roger and Me" as a top end in interest in the movie (6 million).

 

[Oldman]

Of course I haven't seen the film, but to me the way this is apparently being presented from what I can see is an absolute abomination of any journalistic integrity. And yes, documentary films are based in journalism, and should have integrity as such.

For Gibney and Damon, both Oscar winners, to be so willfully blind in such an introspective and troubling time about our sport and it's de facto representative to the masses is inexcusable. I know I may catch some flak for this being a mod and all, but to me this film seems to be about as objective as Olympia but with none of Leni Riefenstahl's artistry.

You'd be right. As bombs go this would be one that should be flushed...

 

[DirtyWorks]

The industry

I honestly don't see a bicycling film (as in dramatic movie, not documentary) getting made and sold in the US

It's not because there are a lack of scripts or even low-budget finished product. It's because the companies that own the mass-market distribution of movies won't do it for a million reasons.

-The sport is nowhere near the zeitgeist of the industry's management types.
-Endurance sport isn't good movie framework. Think American Flyers or Rocky. That's approximately good framework.
-The entertainment industry is an oligopoly. (look the word up if you don't know what it means) Essentially, about 6 or more of a similar script needs to be pitched at the same time to the same 3 or 4 marquee distributors with marquee actors already agreeing to do the movie along with sophisticated consumer market research on the target audience.

Actors like these have all kinds of projects going, most of which go straight to video. Every once in a while lightning strikes and a self-financed movie like 'little miss sunshine' make it through.

Unless the actors backing this project have a weird obsession about losing tons of money on this project versus all of the others they have going, I wouldn't worry too much about this one getting much attention.

Making Bruce Brown type documentaries gets cheaper every year. Lots of money to be made if you can put together a scenic cycling stunts project. It takes years to recoup, but if a project is watchable, they can be decent annuities. Not Hollywood numbers, but very good money.

 

[The Hitch]

But this is the way "heroes" are made and sold. An image is manufactured out of whole cloth and pawned off on the public. In the process some people make a lot of money and the gullible get something that corresponds in no way with reality, or with anything human.

You could certainly argue that this has been the way of things in modern times. Call it the "cult of personality". You could also make the case that it harkens back to biblical times; call it the messiah phenomenon. (Making Lance what, a secular, latter day Jesus? - about to step onto his Calvary? . . . . Are you liking this? )

Seriously, though, in today's internet-connected world, where we can all exchange information and ideas, maybe such a manufactured image starts to quickly look pretty thin and weak. But that won't stop them from coming out with lame movies and biopics. It'll just make the effort look weaker and lamer to a larger number of people. In any case, this is what people like Damon and Gibney get well paid for, and why the word "hack" was invented.

It makes me happy to see that there are others on this planet who see through Hollywood. Great post. Great post.

Its a tragedy the power movie stars have in this world.

 

[flicker]

To Lance




You are our Lord and Master

We bow before you

The soil of your feet

Is worthy of being applied to our foreheads

Beholding you is like

being granted a visitation from our Lord

 

[L'arriviste]

Hey hog, knock it off with the provocative thread titles, will you? All this crying wolf will cause me to miss that golden dawn day when at last the man must eat his hat. There are enough daily disappointments without reading the threads that follow these titles.