A24's Theranos Doc Opens to $15M and Aims at Best Picture

A documentary opened to $15 million over the weekend. That number alone would be news. "You Can See Everything," Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's A24 film about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, did it while chasing something no nonfiction film has ever done: a best picture nomination.

The film follows Holmes through the 34 days before she reported to prison, and keeps rolling afterward. It also carries a record-setting 99 on Metacritic, 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, a 4.7 on Letterboxd and a 9.4 on IMDb, as of Monday, Oct. 19. If the IMDb score holds, the film would surpass "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) as the highest-rated film of all time. Not bad for a movie most people didn't know existed until its surprise Telluride premiere.

Where will A24 campaign the film?

Everywhere. Per A24's awards site, the film will be submitted for best picture, director, production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound, original score — and, of course, best documentary feature at the 99th Academy Awards.

The acting push is the spicy part. Variety confirmed exclusively that Amanda Seyfried, credited as Elizabeth Holmes, is eligible in the acting categories and will be campaigned in supporting actress. She plays two people at once: herself, and the woman she already won an Emmy for playing in "The Dropout." A nomination would be her second, following "Mank" (2020).

Christopher Abbott, who plays Holmes' spouse Billy Evans in recreated scenes, is eligible for supporting actor. Fielder may also submit as a performer, though he's credited as himself; the logical home would be lead actor. No actor has ever been nominated for playing themself. The closest precedent is Clarence Maclin of "Sing Sing" (2023), who was ultimately overlooked. Sources close to the campaign say the acting push will center on Seyfried regardless.

Which awards bodies will actually let it in?

This is where it gets complicated. No documentary has been nominated for best picture in 98 ceremonies. The eligibility map, per the source's breakdown:

• Golden Globes: Not eligible under current written rules, which don't recognize documentaries. Sources say the group may consider it anyway — and would then have to decide whether it's a drama or comedy/musical. A genuinely unanswerable question, given the material.
• Critics Choice Awards: Eligible across the board, including acting. It's the only major stop this season where the performances could get significant recognition before Oscar nominations.
• SAG Awards: Not eligible, since documentaries aren't narrative films, recreations notwithstanding. The committee that rules on films is said to be examining the case.
• BAFTA: A question mark. Current rules permit submission in top categories, but sources say BAFTA may not go for it.
• Writers Guild: Not eligible — the film has no credited screenplay. "Bowling for Columbine" won the WGA's original screenplay prize more than 20 years ago; that won't happen here, and it rules out the Oscar screenplay categories too.
• DGA: Eligible in both top categories. Fielder and Oppenheim can compete for the top award alongside the documentary prize. They can't enter first-time feature director — Oppenheim already helmed "Spermworld" (2024) and "Some Kind of Heaven" (2020) — though Oppenheim will compete there with his narrative debut, the A24 thriller "Primetime" starring Robert Pattinson.
• ACE Eddies: Eligible, choosing among its drama, comedy, documentary and animated categories. "Flee" (2021) faced a similar choice.
• ASC: Eligible, but only as a documentary, per its rules.
• PGA: Eligible for both the theatrical motion picture award and the documentary prize.

Can a documentary win best picture?

Best picture winners typically announce themselves through the guilds — a PGA win, a DGA nod, a SAG ensemble slot, a Globe or two. This film likely won't be at the Globes, and the actors can't nominate it. That leaves the DGA, PGA and Critics Choice as the only places it can win a top prize and signal whether it's a historic nominee or something bigger.

The source frames the race as Odysseus vs. Elizabeth Holmes — studios are casting Christopher Nolan's billion-dollar "The Odyssey" as Goliath. The bigger question: what if the first documentary nominated for best picture wins the whole thing?

One caveat applies to all of the above: every guild writes its own rules, and any of them can convene a committee to revisit eligibility at any time. Holmes built a company on the promise that one test could see everything. Awards season has at least six major contests, and none of them can currently agree on what they're looking at.