Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim spent years building a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes in secret. Then they added Amanda Seyfried in a move nobody saw coming. On November 11, 2026, the three sat down with Rolling Stone for their first joint interview about the film, and Seyfried’s first time speaking on the record about her hidden role.
The conversation covered how Seyfried got pulled into the project, the awkward phone call with Holmes that ended up in the film, and what it felt like to keep the whole thing quiet while the movie became one of the biggest documentaries in North American box office history.
A documentary that started with a simple visit
You Can See Everything began as a straightforward project. Fielder embedded himself with Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, in the weeks before Holmes reported to prison for fraud. The footage was intimate, uncomfortable, and strange in ways that made the filmmakers wonder where to go next.
“This was two years after we had shot in that beach house with them. We were just like, ‘Where do we go next?’” Nathan Fielder said in the interview.
The Dropout, the Hulu series where Seyfried played Holmes, kept coming up. Holmes’ parents had strong feelings about the show, and the filmmakers saw a way to expand the story beyond the footage they already had.
How Emma Stone helped bring Amanda Seyfried in
Fielder got Seyfried’s phone number through Emma Stone. A 30-minute Zoom followed. Seyfried agreed to come over with cameras rolling, with one simple plan: watch the first half of the film and talk about it.
“I remember when [Emma] texted, and I was like, ‘Nathan Fielder? Ooh, I wonder if he wants to make something with me?’” Seyfried said.
She did not go through talent representatives. She did not have a deal in place. She showed up at her apartment, saw more people than she expected, and realized cameras were already there.
“There was no protection. There was no advocate for me. I just felt like I was totally game because I was so invested in what you were doing,” she said.
The reenactments that were never part of the plan
Reenactments were not the original idea. Fielder and Oppenheim only wanted Seyfried’s input on the footage. But during that first meeting, Seyfried started imitating Holmes on camera. Something clicked.
“It felt like you had unfinished business — like it was pouring out of you. You were unresolved or something,” Oppenheim told her.
Seyfried agreed to recreate some early conversations that happened off-camera. Fielder made one thing clear: there would be no scripts, no advance discussions, and no creative control for Seyfried.
“No approval. Whatsoever,” Seyfried confirmed in the interview.
That lack of control came with real fear.
“Am I going to destroy my career in some way? Am I going to get entangled in this, like, wasp’s nest with Billy?” she recalled thinking.
The phone call with Elizabeth Holmes
The moment that stays with everyone who has seen the film is the phone call. Seyfried was at Holmes and Evans’ home, sitting with their children and holding their dog, when Holmes called from prison.
“We didn’t know she was gonna call right then. And I am sitting there with her children and cuddling with her dog! While she’s in prison!” Seyfried said.
The call was not staged. Fielder confirmed that everything outside the scripted reenactments came from Seyfried in real time.
“Someone asked me if that was real, if that was really her on the phone. And I’m like, ‘It’s a documentary. Who else would it be?’” Seyfried said.
What Nathan Fielder learned from watching Seyfried work
Fielder admitted he was skeptical about reenactments. He worried they would feel fake or detached from the reality of what he had experienced with Holmes. Watching Seyfried changed his mind.
“It wasn’t until I was sitting across from you in those re-creations that I realized how well I understood Liz’s tendencies,” Fielder said.
When Seyfried’s performance was slightly off, Fielder would correct her. When she got it right, the result was startling.
“When you got it, it was like, ‘Wow. This is it. This is what I experienced.’ I never thought that would be possible in a re-creation,” he said.
Oppenheim described the final reenactment as seeing Holmes herself.
“I did feel like I was seeing her. It was startling,” Oppenheim said.
The secret role that stayed hidden until release
Seyfried was absent from every trailer and every piece of marketing for You Can See Everything. The film opened in U.S. theaters on October 16, 2026, and audiences discovered her in the second half with no warning.
Now that the secret is out, Seyfried described the feeling in two words.
“Relieved. Excited,” she told PEOPLE at the New York City premiere of Steps on November 8, 2026.
“It’s important for me as an actor, an artist, I mean, a mom, of course, but as a person in the world who loves to work, to find things that I haven’t done before and to do things that scare me in a specific way,” she said.
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Box office numbers that put the film in rare company
You Can See Everything has grossed $80 million in North America after four weekends, making it the second-biggest documentary ever in the region behind Fahrenheit 9/11. The film collected $8.8 million from 2,473 theaters in its fourth weekend, a decline of just 23%.
The three-hour documentary became A24’s third-biggest domestic release, sitting behind Backrooms and Marty Supreme. It has also been sweeping critics’ awards, including a dominant showing at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
Where and when to watch ‘You Can See Everything’
The film is still in U.S. theaters and has not yet been released on streaming. A streaming debut is expected in early 2027, though no platform has been confirmed.
Here are the theatrical release dates for global audiences:
- United States and Canada: Released October 16, 2026
- Australia and New Zealand: Released November 12, 2026
- United Kingdom and Ireland: November 20, 2026
- France: December 30, 2026
- India: Sony Pictures has acquired distribution rights, but no official release date has been announced
Also Read: You Can See Everything Edges Clayface by $200,000 in Sleepy Halloween Box Office Race
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