When Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim were casting about for a project together in 2023, the two took a fortuitous trip together to the famous Magic Castle in Los Angeles. At the show, a magician asked for a celebrity name, and someone yelled out “Elizabeth Holmes.” Oppenheim, the co-director of You Can See Everything, which hit the 2026 movie schedule last week, got an idea.
Oppenheim knew A24 might be looking for someone to make a documentary about the Theranos founder and convicted fraudster. So he convinced Fielder to reach out, and eventually, they signed a deal to make the movie. During negotiations, Fielder asked for something unique. He asked the studio for a clause in the contract that would let the two directors bail on the movie if they decided what they were filming wasn’t working. They could literally get the funding and then decide the final product wasn't going to work, and trash it with no financial consequences.
I’ve never known a studio to do something like this, but credit to A24, they saw the potential in what would eventually become box office gold and agreed. Oppenheim recently appeared on the IndieWire podcast ToolKit and explained how it came together:
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. And they thankfully agreed.
That, according to Oppenheim, was all he and Fielder needed to know. The Primetime director says that the decision allowed a level of freedom and, more importantly, a lack of pressure to make something. Oppenheim explains:
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].’ 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.
That “fishing” is clearly evident in the movie. Despite the fact that Holmes was heading to prison in just a few short weeks when filming began, the atmosphere in the rented beach house in San Diego appeared remarkably relaxed. Fielder has time to ask as many questions as he wants and follow as many threads as he can with Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans. They talk about everything from the infamous Theranos device to why Evans insists on scrambling eggs himself.
The result is one of the best movies of the year. The more I think about the latest release from A24, the more onion layers I remove, and the more I like it. I’ve only seen it once, but I can’t wait to watch it again and see more, because there is no way to see everything in just one go. A24, meanwhile, must be patting themselves on the back for the decision to allow Fielder and Oppenheim so much control, because the results are remarkable, both on screen and at the box office.
If you haven't already, check out You Can See Everything in theaters now.
