Director Hill says Larson Indy/Charlotte double documentary is ‘way more than a racing movie’

The projects Cynthia Hill likes to make require patience.

Kyle Larson's attempt at the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 double gave her that opportunity. After all, it was only supposed to be a one-year project when Larson first attempted the double in 2024. But because it went so poorly with him delayed in Indianapolis when the race didn’t start on time because of weather – the same system that then brought an early end to the Coca-Cola 600 before he got in the car – that a second attempt was announced for 2025.

Hill, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning director, was more than ready for the pivot.

“Of course, that meant we had to keep filming,” Hill told RACER. “So that meant we were now filming for two years, and it is a lot of content, but I’m not unaccustomed to that. A lot of the projects that I do require us to be with the subjects for years.”

"Kyle Larson vs. The Double" dropped on Prime Video on May 21. It follows Larson, his family, both of his race teams, and others involved in the two-year journey. The behind-the-scenes look shows the preparation, the emotion, and the logistics of putting it all together, as well as Larson’s journey to Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, which gives him the opportunity to run the double.

The good news is that Janet Larson, Kyle’s mother, has filmed much of his life and career. So, there were plenty of home videos of his growing up and early racing career to lay out the path of where he is today.

“We were not lacking in the footage department,” Hill said. “We had so much from his mom, and then we shot so much footage. I can’t even tell you how much we had. We had terabytes upon terabytes of drive space occupied by Kyle Larson.”

One of Hill’s first questions when brought onto the project was whether Larson was on board completely with the idea. It would require honesty, trust, and full access. The good, bad, ugly, and unpolished moments would be on full display for the viewing audience.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, I really want people to understand what it’s going to take,’” Hill said of Larson. “I would say for the most part, he was in for it. There were times when he’d be like, ‘I just need a moment to collect myself,’ or whatever, which you completely understand as somebody who is there with him through those difficult times. But he let us be there and didn’t tell us we couldn’t. You couldn’t have this kind of film without that kind of cooperation and participation.”

Among those moments was reliving his 2020 suspension and subsequent firing from Chip Ganassi Racing. Larson reflects on that time of his life and then signing with Hendrick Motorsports. It was a storyline the racing community is familiar with, but for a new audience encountering the documentary, it is an important part of Larson’s biography.

“I think he was also nervous about how it would come off,” Hill said. “But he was in agreement as well that we shouldn’t leave that out.”

One of the most poignant moments of the documentary is a clip of Larson singing the national anthem as a child, overplayed with the national anthem for the Indianapolis 500 as he’s standing on pit road. Tom Vickers, the editor, was going through the archives and came across the footage. And given they wanted to incorporate as much home footage as possible to show the tie between who Larson was and who he has become, that piece became one of the first things put together. Originally put in for the 2024 race , it was then moved when the project was extended by a year.

“When he showed me that scene, goosebumps,” Hill said.

The first time Larson saw the finished film, based on his memories of living it all, he didn’t know what to expect. Things had gone so badly that Larson wasn’t sure how they were going to make a documentary, let alone one worth watching.

But it was because things went so badly that he felt the film turned out to be so good, and even better than expected. Hill agreed that it was compelling because the two attempts didn’t go as well as everyone had hoped.

“It is a racing movie, but it’s way more than a racing movie,” Hill said. “This is a film about someone who’s trying to accomplish something that is bigger than anything he’s ever done before, and he really wants it badly. It’s about perseverance, the emotional toll of trying to accomplish something like that, and how he recovers.

“He is an individual that has this ability to move on from disappointment or mistakes or whatever, and I think the message that you’re always looking forward and you’re looking for the next race.”