Premium cable network Epix has been competing with the likes of ESPN and HBO in recent years in the sports documentary space, producing original films such as Dwight Howard In the Moment and To Russia With Love (which followed LBGT athletes competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics), along with picking up the Road to the NHL Winter Classic series.
Up next for the network is a documentary that appears to be more probing and investigative than some of the lighter, feature-type fare that has previously aired on Epix. Doped: The Dirty Side of Sports, premiering Sept. 30, looks at the history of anti-doping policies in professional sports, interviewing several athletes who claim to have been adversely affected by poor drug-testing policies or intrusive protocols.
Boxer Paulie Malignaggi, Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie and shot putter Adam Nelson, who won a gold medal at the 2004 games when drug testing disqualified his competitor, are among those who provide first-hand accounts. In addition, the film delves into MLB’s probe into steroid use, talking to MLB’s investigator Ed Dominguez regarding what baseball executives did and did not know about what was going on in the sport. (Perhaps that will be intercut with footage of former BALCO CEO Victor Conte, who was also interviewed for the film, cackling.)
Here is one of the clips from Doped released by Epix:
Others interviewed for the film include NFL players association director DeMaurice Smith (pictured above), ESPN’s T.J. Quinn, VICE Sports’ Patrick Hruby, and several representatives from WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency and USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency).
Former MLB manager Bobby Valentine is an executive producer on the documentary, which is directed by Andrew J. Muscato (Branca’s Pitch) and narrated by comedian Nick Kroll (The League).
“The policies used in sports for the war on performance enhancing drugs overreach and underperform,” Muscato said in a press release. “Amazingly clean athletes are not only being harmed by these rules, but they have no say in how to improve what’s clearly a broken system. In order for a global gold standard to truly work, athletes should be a bigger part of the process and that is how we can get to a better and more amicable solution for all. This is a big issue we discuss in the film.”
Doped: The Dirty Side of Sports premieres on Epix Sept. 30 at 8 p.m. ET.
[Deadline]
