Before this post even begins in earnest, let’s just get this out of the way: If you have not seen You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about convicted Theranos fraudsterElizabeth Holmes, you should absolutely stop reading
right now, close this tab, and get yourself to a movie theater. In other words, spoilers ahead.
Alright, with that said: Billy Evans — Holmes’ romantic and business partner and the father of her two children — is basically doing his first interview since You Can See Everything was released last month, in the form of an “Ask Me Anything” on X. He abruptly opened the floor up for questions Monday evening, with a simple post, “AMA,” to which he quickly attached with the funniest possible follow-up: “Needs to be legally permissible.”
At first glance, Evans does not appear to hold back, offering responses to plenty of probing questions about You Can See Everything, as well as more mundane and random topics. But before getting to that, it’s worth a caveat: Evans is arguably the most compelling, strange, and unnerving presence in You Can See Everything, a film filled with compelling, strange, and unnerving presences. The doc poses, and struggles to answer, core questions like whether Evans is Holmes’ controlling Svengali (Holmes gave him power of attorney before she went to prison) or if Evans is actually an attention-seeking striver being used by Holmes (he comes from a wealthy family). Or, perhaps, it’s some ineffable third thing where Evans and Holmes are simply made for each other.
To that end, in the AMA, Evans said the biggest misconception from the film was the notion that he controls Holmes. “Anyone who actually knows her would find that idea hilarious,” he wrote. “She’s fiercely independent, strong-willed, and my best friend. We are partners in every sense. We challenge each other, disagree, and face the world together. Her closest friends are also some of my closest friends. If I ever mistreated her, they’d have my head.”
Pretty emphatic! But with Evans maybe a different question-and-answer offers a better lens through which to view this AMA: “Have you ever told a lie?” one person asked. It’s pointedly a question Fielder asked Holmes in the doc, and one she struggled to answer before replying “no” to a stunned Fielder. Evans, however, is succinct, responding: “Yes.”
With all that in mind, here are some of the highlights from Evans’ AMA.
To start, he has no regrets about participating in You Can See Everything, and when asked about his suspicious sniffing during the second half of the film (which some suspected was a result of cocaine use), he chalked it up to catching colds from his two kids and allergies. As for an already infamous early shot that showed Evans fully naked in the shower, he rebuffed the notion that such a scene could only happen with his permission. “False narrative,” he replied, before sharing a link to a recent People article in which “a source” said Evans felt “violated” by the scene.
Evans also tried to cast doubt on a crucial scene related to the question of whether Holmes knew Evans struck a deal with Fielder, Oppenheim, and A24 to receive a cut of You Can See Everything’s profits. At one point in the film, Holmes tells Fielder she’s not getting paid to participate in the film; but according to Fielder and Oppenheim, Evans struck a deal with them and A24 to receive some compensation. This allegedly happened during a meeting at the house of a friend of Evans and Holmes, after Holmes pointedly left the room to check on her kids.
Asked about the sequence, Evans bluntly replied, “Lmao, the house this was at was a single story. All you need to know.” (Evans and Holmes ultimately gave up their cut of the film’s profits before it was released.)
Another big issue Evans addressed was his having power of attorney over Holmes, and using her X account to tweet on her behalf. Evans said Holmes “knew exactly what we were doing,” adding, “We talk about everything, including X. Nothing happened behind her back. The POA was simply the legal mechanism that allowed me to act on her behalf while she’s incarcerated. It was not a substitute for her consent.”
Amidst all this, though, Evans’ AMA also contained a lot of fun and dumb stuff. Asked if any part of the film was scripted, Evans quipped, “Hardest part of filming was remembering my lines.” He shared his preference for dogs, but expressed his admiration for the “independence” of cats. His four favorite movies are The Fall, Alien, The Great Dictator, and Primer. And as for his favorite pop diva? “Chappell Roan has one of the best live sets I have ever seen. The crowd was amazing. I bought our engagement ring at a Taylor Swift reputation tour merch stand. Aretha Franklin has the best voice.”
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