The Telluride Film Festival builds up intrigue with surprise screenings every year, but seldom has speculation flown the way it did before the secret screening of “You Can See Everything” on Sunday night.
For the past four days, predictions had been all over the place. Upon arrival at the Werner Herzog Theater, the audience was forewarned that any and all electronic devices capable of recording would be placed in a sealed pouch upon entry to prevent social-media leaks. One woman in the row behind me somehow skirted the line and was on her phone. When she was asked place the phone in a pouch, she begrudgingly volunteered to leave and then ducked behind a black curtain, never to be seen again. Security chased her and we are still wondering where she is.
Then, at last, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim took to the stage and told the capacity audience that the day’s most common rumor was in fact true: The secret screening would be their new documentary that centers around convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
Holmes is the blonde, blue-eyed beauty who dropped out of Stanford University at the age of 19 to run Theranos, the healthcare technology start-up. In a highly-publicized case of corporate fraud, her spectacular rise and fall became a Silicon Valley cautionary tale adapted into numerous documentaries, podcasts, a bestselling book and an Emmy-winning miniseries.
As the CEO of Theranos, Elizabeth attracted a high-profile board, including former senators and two ex-secretaries of state. She raised $945 million from powerful investors including Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison, before it was revealed that its revolutionary method of conducting blood tests didn’t work.
Even though the film’s distributor, A24, dropped a teaser trailerat the beginning of the Telluride screening, viewers in the room were asked not to reveal too much about the film in order to keep the intrigue going until the doc’s release on Oct. 16.
Here’s what I can reveal.
On trial in 2022, Holmes maintained her innocence but was ultimately found guilty on four counts of defrauding investors. After being denied a request to delay her incarceration following the birth of her second child in early 2023, Holmes reported to federal prison in Bryan, Texas on May 30, 2023.
Thirty-four days before going to prison, Holmes invited filmmakers Fielder and Oppenheim to document her every move. What begins as an intimate portrait of an enigmatic felon becomes a mind-bending three-year journey into the abyss.
Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone, a close friend of Fielder’s who worked with him on the Showtime series “The Curse,” moderated a post-film discussion in which Fielder revealed that the idea for this documentary originated from a conversation that unfolded one evening in 2023 when Oppenheim and Fielder went to the private magicians’ club the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. That night, a magician asked for a celebrity suggestion as part of his performance and the name “Elizabeth Holmes” was thrown out.
After the show, Oppenheim relayed an intriguing rumor he’d learned a few days prior. “I’d heard that Elizabeth Holmes and her boyfriend Billy were looking to have their lives documented and that they had approached A24 about it,” said Oppenheim.
Holmes hadn’t spoken to the media since 2016. Why would she invite cameras into her last remaining days with her family prior to her incarceration? All of this was intriguing to the filmmakers — as was the idea of offering this type of access to Fielder and Oppenheim, given their reputations for probing and unconventional nonfiction storytelling. The duo confirmed that nothing they shot was pre-conceived, and it all played out organically in real time.
Without spoiling any plot points or major shockers (there are some major ones), here are the most searing questions after viewing the craziness of it all. Is Elizabeth Holmes still looking for someone to craft her redemption story? Do Elizabeth and Billy (her boyfriend) seek promotion for some new endeavor? Does she have another agenda? One never knows, does one?
What I can tell you is this documentary uncovers complex new layers to the Holmes saga and pushes the boundaries of nonfiction filmmaking into new, uncharted terrain. “How reality changes based on your proximity to a person is a very real thing, and it was an interesting thing to experience,” Fielder said.
But as requested, this reporter has vowed not to disclose what happens in the documentary. Because, after all, what happens in Telluride stays in Telluride.
At least until “You Can See Everything” is released in select theaters next month.
The post Unveiling Telluride’s Big Secret: Elizabeth Holmes Documentary Is Sheer Craziness appeared first on TheWrap.
