Nathan Fielder’s surprise Elizabeth Holmes documentary debuts at Telluride

TELLURIDE, Colo. — A provocative and previously unannounced documentary from comedian Nathan Fielder and director Lance Oppenheim that features an intimate look at Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her family premiered Sunday night in a secrecy-shrouded screening at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. The movie, “You Can See Everything,” includes footage of Holmes and her romantic partner, Billy Evans, and their two children interacting with Fielder at a rental home in San Diego in the final days before Holmes entered federal prison in 2023. Portions of the documentary in which Fielder is communicating with Holmes off-camera — including in prison in Texas — are re-created with the help of an A-list actress. The actress’s identity becomes a plot point that Fielder asked attendees not to reveal. “I’m struggling to this day to understand exactly what I experienced,” Fielder said during the post-screening Q&A, of living with Holmes and Evans. “I don’t know why they want me there. I’m a weird guy. I don’t get it. That messed with my head.” It has already garnered some rave reviews. The film originated in 2023 when Oppenheim told his friend Fielder, who is best known for his deadpan, socially awkward comedic style on television shows such as “The Rehearsal” and “Nathan for You,” that Holmes and Evans had approached indie studio A24 about having their story documented. Holmes has been the subject of unauthorized media, including documentaries and a fictionalized Hulu series starring Amanda Seyfried. “I thought the story was fully told,” Fielder said. But, “I was personally curious.” Within a few days, A24 facilitated a meeting between the filmmakers and the couple. And 34 days before Holmes entered prison in Texas, Fielder, Oppenheim and a small camera crew embedded with the family. Much of the nearly three-hour documentary shows Fielder grappling with whether to take Holmes’ words to him at face value. “Why would I deceive you?” Holmes asks Fielder. “There’s no reason for me to do that.” Holmes maintains to Fielder that she never lied in the launching of Theranos, the blood-testing company she founded in 2003 at age 19; in 2022, Holmes was convicted of fraud and misleading investors, and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. The movie depicts the unusual relationship between Holmes and Evans, who admits to posting from Holmes’ official X account as if he was her, and appears to make key business decisions on her behalf. What exactly Holmes knows about Evans’ activities and whether she condones them is a subject of some mystery in the documentary, which suggests parallels to her relationship with Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, her ex-boyfriend and the former president and chief operating officer of Theranos, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy. In some scenes, Holmes and Evans are seen making calls to prospective partners to launch a “Theranos 2.0” business, which Evans says he plans to build while Holmes is in prison. In other scenes, they walk together on the beach at sunset and whisk eggs for breakfast. There are startling displays of what seem to be private moments, as when, at one point, Evans allows the crew to film him showering fully naked. The footage also shows Holmes grappling with her imminent imprisonment, including when she cries on the phone while learning about what her living conditions will be and asks, “What is an invasive strip search?” During the Q&A, which was conducted by actor Emma Stone, a friend and collaborator of Fielder’s, Fielder said that Holmes and Evans had not yet seen the film, but that the filmmakers were in touch with them. “Billy was trying to exert a lot of control,” Fielder said, of the filmmaking process. “It caused our communication to break down. The challenging thing is he’s still sort of the conduit to her.” It’s not clear why they chose Fielder, but his career does offer some context. Much of his work has poked at the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of modern business, some of it toeing the line between documentary and fiction. He first burst onto the national comedy scene in 2013 with “Nathan for You” on Comedy Central, then making HBO’s “The Rehearsal,” the second season of which features Fielder getting his commercial pilot’s license and flying a Boeing 737. The logistics of the Telluride screening were highly unusual, with the festival keeping the title secret until the last possible moment, and requiring audience members to stow their phones in secure Yondr pouches to prevent their use during the screening and Q&A. As members of the press were filing into the theater, a representative for A24 handed them notebooks and pens. Despite the secrecy, rumors of the project began to percolate at the festival over the weekend, and the line to see the film in the 650-seat Werner Herzog Theater started forming hours before showtime. “For those of you who don’t know who we are and are disappointed, I apologize,” Fielder said, addressing the crowd before the screening began. “But hopefully by the end of this film, you’ll be less disappointed.” While the audience was in the theater watching the movie, A24 dropped the trailer online, and announced that it plans to release the film in October. Shortly after A24 released the trailer, Holmes’ X account shared it, with the words, “I’m always being real.”