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On Labor Day, I was at a rooftop barbecue when a buddy had his phone out and called me over and merely said, “Watch this.” After the A24 logo and the voice of a woman saying she’s “not that person,” I was startled to see the soul-piercing eyes of Elizabeth Holmes, staring wide. “I don’t have anything to deceive you on. Of course I’m not deceiving you,” she says. I notice she’s shaking, buzzing with alarming energy. Cut to Nathan Fielder staring back, and that’s when I jumped.
A documentary in which the deadpan comedy genius behind Nathan for You and The Rehearsal fixes his cameras on one of the biggest fraudsters of the century—are we looking at the movie of the year? Maybe even Best Picture? Believe it or not, we just might.
On Sunday, the movie world was rocked by the premiere of You Can See Everything, a new documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was convicted of fraud in 2022. The movie was codirected by Nathan Fielder—yes, that Nathan Fielder, in his feature-filmmaking debut—and Lance Oppenheim. Everything about You Can See Everything was shrouded in secrecy until it was unveiled as the surprise Sunday screening at the Telluride Film Festival.
The lore behind You Can See Everything is that in the days leading up to the start of her prison sentence in 2023, Holmes gave Fielder and Oppenheim unvarnished access to her life and home, shared with Billy Evans, her boyfriend and the father of her two children. In the teaser, Holmes is rocking her infant daughter’s crib with her foot—which explains all her “shaking” in front of Fielder.
You can watch the teaser trailer below.
Already the movie has Oscar potential beyond even the expected documentary branches. Sources at A24 tell Variety the movie’s unusual and experimental form (which intentionally plays with truth, informed by its unique subject) may prohibit a formal run for Best Documentary, for which the Academy imposes rules that You Can See Everything brazenly violates. Which is why A24 is apparently considering submitting the movie for Best Picture.
To date, the Oscars have never nominated a documentary for Best Picture. Even with A24’s own stacked slate from this year—including The Invite, Club Kid, The Debut (which also premiered at Telluride to acclaim), and Oppenheim’s own Primetime (which opened at Venice)—You Can See Everything might break through in the coveted category, which would be a first in the Oscars’ 98-year history.
In 2003, Elizabeth Holmes rose to public prominence when she founded Theranos, a medical-technology company whose miraculous invention supposedly performed intricate but cheap blood tests. She is now serving an 11-year sentence in Bryan, Texas. Her story and fall from grace have been thoroughly documented. We’re talking New York Times best sellers, Emmy-winning Hulu shows, podcasts, 60 Minutes specials—in theory, there’s nothing new to say about how she deceived the world with some not-so-miraculous machines. But somehow Nathan Fielder found a way, and he’s done it by getting exceptionally and eerily close.
