The private life of disgraced Silicon Valley startup founder Elizabeth Holmes will soon be aired to the public in a startling new documentary filmed in the 34 days before she went to prison.
The film from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, out in US theatres on October 16, captures the former executive’s world before her incarceration for fraud at her now-defunct health technology company Theranos.
Theranos falsely touted technology capable of performing medical tests using only a few drops of blood. The project took Silicon Valley by storm in the early 2010s, but Holmes’s fall proved just as rapid.
Her sensational trial ended in her 2022 sentencing to more than 11 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy. The scandal inspired a book, podcasts and the mini-series “The Dropout”, starring Amanda Seyfried.
Holmes herself shied from the public eye, making the surprise release of “You Can See Everything” all the more astonishing when it debuted to high praise at the Telluride Film Festival in September.
The film follows her life at home with partner Billy Evans and their two children, a hybrid of documentary and reality television that drew laughter, gasps and applause at a Los Angeles screening this week.
The Canadian comedian, writer and producer Fielder is famous for harnessing the power of awkwardness, cringe and deadpan wit to great, if unsettling, comedic effect.
Fielder and Oppenheim said Holmes initiated conversations with entertainment company A24 about documenting her daily life, later inviting them into her California home.
The directors described their experience as “really sad and hard at times”.
Fielder, behind “The Rehearsal” and “Nathan For You”, said there was “never a great explanation” for choosing him, “or why you would want to spend your last month of freedom in a decade with this guy”.
“I like to see myself as like a nice person overall, but still, I wouldn’t choose me.”
Fielder is a constant presence in the documentary, a decision made on the fly. Close-up shots of him face-to-face with Holmes have already become social media memes.
Early images released by A24 show Holmes maintaining intense, unnerving eye contact with Fielder, scenes that made even him “uncomfortable”.
“At a certain point, I was like, ‘I’m not going to stop.’ If she’s looking at me, I’m just going to keep looking at her.”
The directors said living under the same roof as their subjects created tensions and saw Evans try to exert control over production.
But the filmmakers were never thrown out.
Neither Holmes nor Evans has seen the finished film, the directors said. She remains in prison.— AFP
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