I talked to a fitness model named Christian Boeving, who was probably the top fitness model in the past 10 years for the company MuscleTech. Christian was basically…his contract ended and they would not redo his contract, and he was their top guy, because he was in this movie. They saw a little clip on CNN and were like, “You know what Christian, that’s it!” They’re not allowed to tell the truth. It’s like they know they’re taking all of these supplements and steroids, but they’re not allowed to say that. There is a big hypocrisy going on when a company like MuscleTech says they do not support the use of anabolic steroids and then they also sponsor the Mr. Olympia contest, which is not drug tested and we also know that Mr. Olympia is definitely on steroids. It’s a big hypocrisy going on that we can’t tell the truth in this country. You see an ad with a guy who is juiced out of his mind, but he’s selling supplements. Who are you kidding?
Was IFBB Pro Bodybuilder Flex Lewis connected to the Tennessee steroid investigation involving several Tennesse law enforcement officers? Absolutely not! However, Nashville, Tennessee’s News Channel 5 took the opportunity to include the following teaser on their website as part of their exclusive coverage of the steroid investigation (”Nashville’s Hidden Steroid Culture,” May 7).
On Thursday night, the second part of the NewsChannel exclusive steroids investigation will focus on the informant and the Nashville Predators team physician and world-class body builder Flex Lewis. The report airs at 6 p.m.
By stating that their steroid investigation will “focus” on Flex Lewis, the reader is left to speculate how Flex Lewis is connected to the steroid investigation. Is he involved? Or is is just going to talk about steroids? It turns out the answer is negative to both questions.
I contacted Flex since I know he lives in the United Kingdom and asked him about this. He explained that he happened to be at a nutritional store in Tennessee doing a demo as a representative of Gaspari Nutrition. A local television camera crew briefly interviewed him but they NEVER mentioned steroids!
The media is unbelievable. This is probably why Jim Lorimer told pro bodybuilders not to trust the media when it comes to steroids in a private athlete’s meeting at this year’s Arnold Classic.
UPDATE: The sports supplement store where Flex Lewis made a guest appearance promoting Gaspari was American Nutrition Wholesalers in Hermitage, Tennessee. Owner Mark Johnson is considered a main suspect by investigators in the Tennessee steroid investigation. Lewis just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and has absolutely no relationship with Johnson or this investigation. So, I hope NewsChannel 5 in Nashville uses the Flex Lewis footage for the good of the health industry as promised.
I was disappointed to see Gregg Valentino at the beginning of the trailer conveying the message to a mainstream public that his arms are the result of anabolic steroids when that is clearly not the case. I actually enjoyed Valentino’s appearance in the film; Valentino was very open about steroid use and his scenes were very entertaining and provided a good deal of comic relief. So while I enjoyed Valentino in the movie, not so much in the trailer!
America’s performance-enhancing appetite has never been bigger. And it’s not just in professional sports or Hollywood. From high school locker rooms to anti-aging clinics, our nation is embracing steroids and human growth hormones like never before, spurring a furious debate about the ethics of enhancement. Join Christopher Bell, who documented his brothers’ struggle to be “the best,” BALCO founder Victor Conte, Jon Romano and Mark Haskins in a provocative discussion about the pitfalls and promise of the asterisk era, and where we go from here. Moderated by Steroid Nation author Shaun Assael.
New Yorkers have really embraced the film; this was confirmed firsthand by Anthony Roberts who had the opportunity to see Bigger Faster Stronger for the second time witnessing a large crowd of bodybuilders at the screening. Several sports writers, bloggers, and movie critics have screened the film at Tribeca and have written mostly positive reviews.
If anyone had the opportunity to attend the panel discussion, please post your reactions to the event in the comments below.
Cinematical interviewed Christopher Bell, director of “Bigger Stronger Faster*” at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. Cinematical picks up on anti-intellectual theme that pervades discussion of anabolic steroids, particularly in Congress. Chris Bell discusses how politicians (in this case, Republican Senator John Sweeney) make decisions on steroid policy.
In the movie, [New York congressman] John E. Sweeney says one of the most retarded things I’ve heard. He says that Donald Hooten, whose son Taylor committed suicide and they blamed steroids, was more important than statistics or any of that stuff. As a congressman, how can you be more concerned with emotions than statistics? If you were going to go to war based on emotions, that would be insane. We’re kinda in that situation right now.
It seems that emotion-based or faith-based policy has triumphed over policy based on science and logic again and again in the past several years. As has been said before, this documentary is about much more than the steroids. The anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism seen in the steroid debate is only a microcosm of tendencies that pervade our society. Scholars have written books on the dumbing down of our culture.
When Robert Sepe brutally murdered his girlfriend with a baseball bat, the media immediately speculated that anabolic steroids caused him to do it. The apparent reasoning was that the crime was so horrific that only an anabolic steroid user with roid rage would be capable of such violence. The “brutality of the crime” coupled with Sepe’s ownership of a supplement company apparently prompted the Journal News to write about a possible link between steroid abuse and murder.
New information suggests that Sepe was strongly against illegal and recreational drug use and likely even anti-steroid. He even abstained from alcohol and coffeee (”Cortlandt slay suspect told cops of ’surreal’ events,” April 29).
In discussing weighlifting, he went into great detail about how various vitamins and supplements could affect the body. He said he hated drugs and never used illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana. He didn’t even drink coffee or alcohol, or eat meat, though he had once tried venison, he told them.
But he did admit to using prescription drugs Elavil and Zoloft to treat psychopathology and an undisclosed blood pressure medication.
During a five hour standoff, he started out by lying about his identify and eventually opened up and talked about some serious problems he said he was having. He told police he had been suffering from panic attacks, depression and insomnia in recent months, and that he was taking two psychotropic medications, Elavil and Zoloft, along with medicine to control high blood pressure; he mentioned he had one pill in his pocket. He claimed the various drugs were “contradicting each other” and that his psychologists and internists “didn’t know what each other was prescribing.”
Zoloft and roid rage? It doesn’t quite have the same sensationalistic impact as steroid roid rage; it is kind like prednisone roid rage. Yet there are various websites demonizing Zoloft suggesting it can cause normal invidividuals to turn into “homicidal maniacs“!
It seems that there is a natural tendency to ascribe a single cause for senseless events like suicide and murder. Anabolic steroids are the demon of choice in such events irrespective of the actual potential causes of such behavior. But if the media wants to blame steroids for the violent crime of Robert Sepe, the actual use of anabolic steroids by the perpetrator is a prerequisite for this unsubstantiated claim. This is unfortunate for the anti-steroid crusaders seeking to capitalize on the current trend of steroid hysteria in the media and popular culture.
Attempts to eliminate anabolic steroid from sports in an effort to preserve athletes as role models for our children is a failed strategy. The real problem lies with a society that worships athletes as role models. Manufacturing a moral issue out of steroid use in professional sports is hypocritical when other “immoral” behavior by athletes is not subject to the same media scrutiny, Congressional hearings, and multi-million dollar federal investigations.
Yet performance-enhancing drugs and the “culture of steroids” is seen as evil and immoral. The demonization of steroids in sports is absurd in the face of such hypocrisy.
House, M.D., the medical television drama, discussed “roid rage” as a side effect of steroids last night in an episode entitled “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” The House medical team attributed the “roid rage” to the catabolic steroid prednisone. “Roid rage” is not a medical term, but a term arising from popular culture.
Even though aggression in anabolic steroids users is rare, the producers of House decided to promote an even less plausible case of “roid rage” (arising from prednisone use). Then again, the whole point of the television show is to explore rare medical cases and consequently rare side effects. So, perhaps the reference to roid rage was consistent with the goals of the show rather than a capitulation to the current pop culture fascination with anabolic steroids and roid rage and related undocumented or overstated side effects of steroids?
In 2001, New Line optioned the rights to make a movie adaptation of Chemical Pink, a novel about sexual fetishism and the world of female bodybuilding written by Katie Arnoldi. David Fincher was supposed to direct it and Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk was supposed to write the screenplay; however, both dropped out of the movie project and the future of the movie seemed uncertain.
Gene Hwang reports that a new team is moving forward with the Chemical Pink movie project.
Arnoldi eventually wrote the screenplay herself and music video director Jonas Akerlund will now direct. The latest is that he and producer Ted Field are now looking for someone to play Aurora Johnson, the main character - an aspiring female bodybuilder who moves to southern California to pursue her dream.
Patricia Arquette, Rosario Dawson and Jessical Biel were considered for the role of Aurora. And while the prospect of these actresses gaining 15-20 lbs of muscle would be quite appealing for fans of female muscle, the big name Hollywood actresses all rejected the role of Aurora. It is unclear whether the role was rejected due to the disturbing nature of steroid-related side effects and sexual fetishism portrayed in the screenplay or the daunting task of trying to look like a female bodybuilder in six months.
According to the Genextras blog, it now looks like the producers are searching for a real female bodybuilder to play the role of Aurora.
Arnoldi tells us they now plan to cast a “real girl” instead. They are even talking about an American Idol-style reality show in which Arnoldi, Akerlund and Field would go around the country auditioning female bodybuilders for the part - what Arnoldi calls “In Search of Aurora”. That could mean an amazing opportunity for a female bodybuilder to play the lead in a Hollywood movie. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more…
This is certain to be an interesting movie. I think Testosterone Nation best described Chemical Pink when the suggested it could have originated from the perverted mind of steroid guru Dan Duchaine:
If Dan Duchaine had been a writer of fiction, this is the book he’d have written.
If you catch the Tribeca screening, I strongly encourage you to take the time to meet with director Christopher Bell and co-producers Tamsin Rawady and Alex Buono.
“Bigger Stronger Faster*” opens today for the New York City premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival for the first of four screenings at the festival.
Sat, Apr 26, 9:00PM
Tishman Auditorium at The New School
, and included Chris Bell, John Romano of 
