Icarus, the documentary which exposes revelations about Russian doping, has been nominated for an Oscar.
Documentary maker and amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel began “Icarus” as a first-person investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, inspired by Lance Armstrong’s experience. But eventually the director stumbled onto Russia’s extensive state-sanctioned doping program, which recently got the country banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“I started out to kind of make a ‘Super Size Me’ doc, that I was gonna be a guinea pig and see whether or not the anti-doping system worked,” the director told TheWrap at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. “In the process of doing this, I get put in touch with this guy, Grigory Rodchenkov.”
Fogel, in creating the film, interviewed Russian Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, who admitted to being one of the primary architect’s of the countries doping program.
Rodchenkov revealed in the documentary the scope of Russia’s doping violations, how he and his colleagues subverted anti-doping practices and why he fled Russia in fear for his life after revealing details of the scandal.
