Amanda Seyfried is ready to show her face again, but the process made her nervous. According to the actress, she felt “relieved” and “excited” as the public is now aware of her project role. She stepped into the role of Elizabeth Holmes for the experimental film “You Can See Everything” without signing deals first. Seyfried told People that the move was a calculated risk to find something new.
The documentary follows the disgraced Theranos founder as she prepares to start her 11-year prison sentence for fraud. Holmes invited Nathan Fielder into her home to document the month before she went to jail in Bryan, Texas. The film continues after she reports to prison in 2023. Seyfried returns to play Holmes in reenactments for moments that cameras missed. *Deadline* noted that A24 is generating Oscar buzz for the actress, marking the first nomination of a documentary re-enactor in an acting category.
Finding Fear in the Work
Seyfried believes an actor must take risks to grow. She stated, “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 admitted that playing Holmes in “The Dropout” felt risky at first. Yet, she wanted to do things that “scare me in a specific way.”
She noted that following through with something scary feels good when it helps people. “And when you follow through with something that scares you and it comes out the other end that it’s something that’s having an impact, mostly positive impact, it always feels good because you take a risk,” she told *Deadline*. It also highlights the unique bond she formed with the real Elizabeth Holmes.
A Deal Made on a Zoom Call
The path to this film started in an unusual way. Variety reported that Seyfried began filming without telling her agents or lawyers. She did not sign a formal contract before showing up to shoot. Nathan Fielder explained how he reached out to her. “I got your phone number through Emma Stone,” Fielder told Seyfried. He said they had a short meeting on video. “We had a 30-minute Zoom, and you were like, ‘Yeah, come over with cameras.’ We wanted to show you what became the first half of the film, and then we would talk about it. That’s all you agreed to.”
Seyfried recalled her reaction to the text from Emma Stone. “My sister is a big fan [of yours, Nathan], and I know a lot of people are big fans of ‘Nathan for You.’ I’d only seen ‘The Curse.'” She thought he just wanted advice on her past research.
Her legal team had to fix the paperwork after the fact. “I would say there was a lot of risk in the back of my head, and then when I told my agent and lawyer that I had already done it… Not the normal process,” Seyfried said. Fielder added that they had to clarify the agreement. “We should clarify that because, yeah, all you’d agreed to was just coming in, and we’d show you the stuff and talk,” Fielder added. The film is now drawing major attention.
The film blends real footage with new scenes. Seyfried watches the footage Fielder shot inside the beach house with Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans.
