This month’s hottest movie just so happens to be a top-secret, nearly three-hour documentary.
“You Can See Everything” (in theaters now) is the brainchild of directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, who spent 34 days with disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes before she went to prison in 2023. The twisty new movie is already sparking Oscar buzz and hundreds of sold-out showtimes across the country, with box-office pundits predicting it could climb to a $12 million opening weekend – virtually unheard of for a documentary.
Before you go see what all the fuss is about, here’s a refresher on Holmes and the infamous Theranos debacle:
Who is Elizabeth Holmes?
Holmes, 42, is the enigmatic founder of Theranos, a multibillion-dollar Silicon Valley start-up that promised
cheap, portable blood tests for all. At just 19, she started the company in 2003 while studying chemical engineering at Stanford University, before dropping out the next year to focus on developing the healthcare technology. By roughly 2014, Theranos was valued at $9 billion, and Forbes named the Washington, D.C., native the youngest self-made woman billionaire.
What was the Theranos technology?
Marketed as the “iPod of healthcare,” the idea behind Theranos was that it could run hundreds of medical tests – ranging from diabetes to cancer detection – using just a few drops of blood from the prick of a finger. This all could allegedly be achieved by a small black device known as the Edison machine, which was about the size of a desktop printer.
But as shown in the 2019 HBO documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” none of the technology actually worked, producing wildly inaccurate data that often led healthy patients to believe they were sick. As a result, the company was forced to correct and void tens of thousands of blood tests given at pharmacies where its equipment was used in 2014 and 2015.
“The Inventor” further alleges that Holmes would trick investors by administering their blood tests with faulty Theranos technology, then take them out to lunch while lab technicians got results using rival companies' machines. The equipment was also frequently dangerous, with malfunctioning parts that put medical professionals at risk of blood exposure.
What was Elizabeth Holmes convicted of?
In October 2015, the Wall Street Journal published the first in a series of explosive investigations into Theranos, speaking to doctors, medical experts and whistleblowers about the start-up’s alleged deception and shortcomings. Walgreens soon cut ties with Theranos, multiple class-action lawsuits were filed against Holmes and COO Sunny Balwani, and the company eventually dissolved in 2018.
Federal criminal charges were filed against Holmes that same year and she went to trial in 2021. Holmes was ultimately convicted in 2022 on one count of conspiracy to defraud investors and three counts of wire fraud. Balwani, meanwhile, was convicted on 12 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy.
Who is Elizabeth Holmes' fiancé, Billy Evans?
Holmes met Balwani when she was 18 and he was 37, and they were in a relationship for 12 years. She met Evans in 2017 at a charity event while she was still under federal investigation, and the couple got engaged in 2018.
Evans is the grandson of William and Anne Evans, founders of the luxury hotel group Evans Hotels. He studied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and worked at LinkedIn and Luminar Technologies, a self-driving car company. He is currently the CEO of Haemanthus, a new blood-testing start-up.
Holmes and Evans share two children together: son William, 5, and daughter Invicta, 3.
When will Elizabeth Holmes be released from prison?
Holmes was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in federal prison, and she surrendered to authorities in May 2023. Last month, ABC News reported that she will be moved to a halfway house in Austin, Texas, in August 2027. She is now scheduled to be released on Feb. 22, 2030, due to a combination of good conduct and a federal judge ruling that none of Holmes' investor victims suffered financial hardship from losing money.
Balwani, meanwhile, was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison and is expected to be released in 2034.
Who is 'You Can See Everything' co-director Nathan Fielder?
Fielder, 43, is an Emmy-nominated comedian who broke through in 2013 with his Comedy Central series “Nathan for You,” in which he drolly offered outrageous business advice to struggling companies. He built a fan base with his highly meta HBO series “The Rehearsal,” helping ordinary people “rehearse” for major life situations with increasingly head-spinning results.
The Canadian filmmaker honed his brand of awkward cringe comedy on Showtime’s “The Curse” with Emma Stone, before partnering with “Primetime” director Oppenheim on “You Can See Everything.”
Are there other movies or TV shows about Elizabeth Holmes?
In addition to documentaries “The Inventor” and “You Can See Everything,” Holmes was the subject of the eight-episode Hulu miniseries “The Dropout,” which premiered in early 2022 and dramatized her rise and fall. The show starred Oscar nominee Amanda Seyfried, who won a best actress Emmy Award for her uncanny portrayal of Holmes.
Jennifer Lawrence was also previously attached to a Holmes biopic entitled “Bad Blood,” although she dropped out in 2022, citing Seyfried’s “terrific” portrayal.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, we don’t need to redo it,’ ” Lawrence told the New York Times of the nixed Theranos movie, which was set to be directed by Adam McKay. “She did it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The shocking Elizabeth Holmes story behind 'You Can See Everything'
