Nathan Fielder’s Documentary Signals a 2026 Genre Shift
WHO:
The Hollywood Reporter - Nathan Fielder, known for *The Rehearsal*, and Lance Oppenheim, known for *Primetime*, directed *You Can See Everything*.
The Hollywood Reporter - The film follows Elizabeth Holmes, her husband Billy Evans, and their children during the final month before Holmes began serving an 11-plus-year prison sentence for fraud.
The Hollywood Reporter - Amanda Seyfried, who won an Emmy for portraying Holmes in Hulu’s *The Dropout*, joined the film after the filmmakers’ access to Holmes diminished.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder and Oppenheim discussed the documentary at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Oppenheim also named camera operator Jonathan Mitchell and cinematographer David Bolen.
WHAT:
TheWrap - The documentary earned its biggest opening weekend for a documentary at the box office since *Fahrenheit 9/11* (2004), then increased its opening-weekend numbers by 23% as it expanded to 2,655 U.S. theaters.
The Hollywood Reporter - The A24 documentary is three hours long and has become one of the most successful documentaries ever at the North American box office, according to the article.
The Hollywood Reporter - The article says the film made a strong case to become the first documentary nominated for the best picture Oscar.
The Hollywood Reporter - The film’s final act jumps forward to the filmmakers’ access to Holmes in prison slipping away, then uses Seyfried to help complete the film and reenact key scenes and conversations.
The Hollywood Reporter - The filmmakers said they witnessed a pattern of behavior but remained uncertain whether Holmes was conscious of it.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said Holmes and Evans repeatedly asked him to remain and film, even when he offered to leave. He described the experience as a “mindfuck.”
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said that people outside Holmes’ circle declined interviews because they considered her a “toxic personality.”
WHERE:
The Hollywood Reporter - The filmmakers filmed inside Holmes and Evans’ home and later followed Evans as he worked on a business project in San Diego.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder and Oppenheim took part in a public Q&A at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
WHEN:
TheWrap - The film opened in U.S. theaters on Oct. 16.
The Hollywood Reporter - The filmmakers said they spent a month filming in the household.
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said Evans initially said he would have something to show the filmmakers in “365 days”; it took two years instead.
The Hollywood Reporter - The film had a secret screening at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend.
WHY:
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said the filmmakers brought Fielder on camera after Holmes and Evans repeatedly asked him questions; operator Jonathan Mitchell panned the camera toward Fielder, and Oppenheim thought he could function as an “accidental investigator” in everyday scenes.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said the filmmakers tracked moments they could not make sense of, including a “who’s on first” exchange, and discussed them while filming and later revisited them while editing.
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said Amanda Seyfried had “unfinished business” with portraying Holmes again; she invited the filmmakers to bring cameras to her apartment, where she watched footage and began imitating Holmes.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said the crew added cameras and recorded conversations before filming because they wanted to capture facial reactions, household activity, and the subjects’ own ideas about what should be documented.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said they added the later material because the first half felt incomplete without conversations that had been informed by events off camera.
HOW:
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said the filmmakers initially tried shooting with one camera but missed subjects’ first nonverbal reactions when the camera panned between speakers, prompting them to change their setup.
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim said the initial crew had seven people. The filmmakers later used a wide camera covering the house and zoom lenses; Fielder said there were two operators for three cameras and no more than two or three crew members besides him and Oppenheim in the house at a time.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said the crew began arriving before the household woke up, and the house door was not locked, allowing them to set up cameras in advance.
The Hollywood Reporter - Oppenheim described the approach as drawing on cinéma vérité and other documentary methods, including having a director appear on camera and using reenactments.
The Hollywood Reporter - Fielder said they decided in the edit that the film had reached its endpoint once viewers had the information the filmmakers themselves had.
(UPDATED October 29, 2026 02:02 UTC)
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s three-hour documentary *You Can See Everything*, about Elizabeth Holmes and her family in the month before she began her prison sentence, has become one of the most successful documentaries at the North American box office in years. After Holmes’ prison access dwindled, Emmy winner Amanda Seyfried joined the film to reenact key scenes and conversations, helping complete its final act. The filmmakers say they spent a month filming inside Holmes and Billy Evans’ home, using multiple cameras to capture intimate household moments and what they called a pattern of behavior they could not fully explain.
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(UPDATED October 28, 2026 23:03 UTC)
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s three-hour A24 documentary, *You Can See Everything*, follows Elizabeth Holmes, her husband Billy Evans and their children during the month before Holmes began serving her prison sentence for fraud, and has become one of the most successful documentaries at the North American box office. After the filmmakers’ access to Holmes dwindled, Amanda Seyfried joined to reenact key scenes and conversations, helping complete a film whose final act follows the story into prison; the directors said they observed a pattern of behavior but could not tell whether Holmes was aware of it. Fielder described the filming as a “mindfuck,” saying Holmes and Evans repeatedly urged him to stay and keep recording, while Oppenheim said some people outside their circle refused interviews because they viewed Holmes as a “toxic personality.”