New film reveals depth of Lance Armstrong's lies

A film about Lance Armstrong's cycling comeback, shot in 2009 but shelved when his doping denials began to unravel, has had its own revival, offering fresh perspective on his lies.

Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney was granted unprecedented access to Armstrong and his entourage for an entirely different sort of film, prior to the cyclist's fall from grace.

By the time the planned film was finished in 2010 it was "no longer relevant," Gibney said, in a turn of events that may have been fortuitous. Taking a fresh look at the footage late last year, Gibney and his producer recognised that they had captured the incredible truth that had been "hiding in plain sight," he said.

"We realised that we had all of this stuff that we didn't know was so important then, but was now important," said Marshall.

The film, now titled , minus Matt Damon who narrated the original but was cut in the rejig, premiered at the Toronto film festival.

"In this film, you see a portrait of an elaborate lie... and you see the mechanism of it, you see the anatomy of a lie," Gibney said.