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It’s a rare thing when a film studio manages to pull off a genuine surprise drop, especially considering the amount of marketing and buzz surrounding new releases. But A24 has managed to do just that with the new documentary You Can See Everything.
Co-directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, the project started shooting in 2023 in top secrecy and premiered at a secret screening yesterday at the Telluride Film Festival.
It follows disgraced businesswoman Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of health technology company Theranos, who was convicted of defrauding investors and sentenced to more than 11 years in 2022. She reported to federal prison in May 2023.
According to the film’s synopsis, Holmes invites Fielder and Oppenheim to document her life for 34 days before she goes to prison, and the filmmakers continue following Holmes over the course of three years.
“What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss.”
On the same day as its premiere, A24 released a trailer and poster for the documentary, and both are chilling. The teaser trailer in particular borders on sinister, as the camera focuses on Holmes and her signature (and very unnerving) wide-eyed stare, as she affirms that she is not deceiving anyone.
“Why would I do that?” she asks, before a skeptical Fielder asks: “You’re being real right now?”
“I’m always being real,” Holmes replies.
The camera then pulls back to reveal Holmes has been rocking her young baby the whole time.
Check out the trailer below:
You Can See Everything marks the feature directorial debut of Canadian comedian Fielder and it’s the second directorial work from Oppenheim to premiere in the last few days, after the Venice debut of his Robert Pattinson-led Primetime.
Vanity Fair confirmed that Fielder actually lived with Holmes and her husband Billy Evans while making the documentary. The publication described the film as being “full of unexpected twists and turns and shocking reveals.”
If the trailer hasn’t already given you the chills, check out the unsettling poster:
Elizabeth Holmes supposedly dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 to run Theranos. As the CEO, she attracted a high-profile board, including former US senators and two ex-secretaries of state. In 2015, Forbes named Holmes the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in the US on the basis of a $9-billion valuation of her company.
Holmes raised $945 million from powerful investors including Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison, before it was revealed that the company’s revolutionary method of conducting blood tests never existed. She was eventually convicted of fraud and sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison.
The spectacular rise and fall of the disgraced entrepreneur has become a Silicon Valley cautionary tale – one which has been adapted into numerous podcasts and books, as well as an HBO documentary by Alex Gibney titled The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley and the minieries The Dropout, for which Amanda Seyfried won an Emmy for playing Holmes.
After being convicted, Holmes attempted to flee the US, and pushed for a new trial. She is scheduled to be released from prison on 16 August 2032.
You Can See Everything will be in US theatres next month, although A24 hasn’t announced an exact release date. There is no news so far regarding a European release date.