10 Film Documentaries That Accidentally Uncovered Major Scoops

8. Icarus - The Russian Government-Backed Doping Program

Icarus Poster
Netflix

Jumping ahead to a more recent event, the 2017 Netflix documentary Icarus centres on sports doping - the practice of athletes using illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, in order to boost their chances of winning.

Before filming began, the premise was for director Bryan Fogel to investigate this shady business with the aid of Russian scientist Grigory Rodchenkov, who would show Fogel a way of taking these illegal drugs that makes them difficult to detect.

However, the production then took a seriously crazy turn.

Throughout the course of shooting, Rodchenkov ended up revealing the existence of a government-backed doping program, one that was built to allow the Russian team to cheat at the 2014 Winter Olympics. This confession (which was eventually verified by the World Anti-Doping Agency) placed Rodchenkov's life in danger, forcing him to be hidden from the Russian government via protective custody.

It's a wild ride from start to end, with Fogel accidentally stumbling across the scoop of a lifetime while producing his relatively simple documentary.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.