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“You Can See Everything” might be the buzziest film of the moment, but before the Elizabeth Holmes-focused documentary made it to theaters, co-director Lance Oppenheim has admitted that fellow director Nathan Fielder
was so skeptical about being able to weave a unique enough narrative that he negotiated a “kill switch” with A24 before they began filming.
In an interview with IndieWire, Oppenheim detailed Fielder’s kill-switch idea and how it helped the project. While Fielder wanted to pursue the documentary with Oppenheim, he worried that “the story had been told so many times already.” (Before the documentary even began production, Holmes’ scandal was already the subject of a popular podcast, best-selling book, an Alex Gibney doc and “The Dropout,” the Hulu scripted series.)
“Nathan [said to A24], ‘Well, do you think if Lance and I were to go and see if there was something there, would you be comfortable with giving us money and essentially just leaving us alone, and giving us a provision in our deal, whatever the money was, that we could just kill it at any time? If we didn’t find something, we could just throw it all away, we could throw it in the garbage can,’” said Oppenheim. “And they thankfully agreed.”
Oppenheim continued, saying that the “kill switch” negotiation “changed everything,” especially as Fielder remained hesitant about how the doc would come to fruition with just 34 days left before Holmes was set to go to prison. The provision also gave them freedom with the project, he said.
“This was the first time where I’ve ever been like, ‘Oh, we actually have room to explore something without any pressure of anyone looking [over us],” said Oppenheim. “ I wish I could have that for every project, because then it really feels like you’re just operating purely out of curiosity. You can essentially fish.”
In another interview with Wired Magazine, Fielder also touched on why he wanted such a provision in the contract.
“I told A24, ‘I don’t really know what the angle is, but there is something tickling in my brain,’” he said. “She was about to go to prison, so we didn’t know what was gonna happen. I was like, ‘If you guys want, I’m down to go down and start filming and see what emerges. But we need the ability to deliver nothing to you guys if it doesn’t work out.’ And they said ‘Sure.’”
He continued: “It really meant I didn’t have to hold back with her or with them. Making a film, or any project, is very stressful. So if we had to pull the plug because it didn’t work out, it would sort of be a relief to me. It’s a very nice zone to operate in. Lance and I both thought, ‘Well, at the very least, this will be an interesting week or two that we’ll have as a story.’”
