Director Reveals How Billy Evans' Naked Shower Scene Was Filmed

Billy Evans asked the filmmakers to film him showering. That single question, posed in a car ride back from the gym, produced the full-frontal shower scene that has startled audiences of "You Can See Everything," the A24 documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes co-directed by Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder.

Speaking to GQ, Oppenheim said he still cannot fully explain why Evans — Holmes's partner — agreed to appear naked on screen.

"I honestly don't know," Oppenheim said when asked why Evans would agree. "It's beyond me, but I've heard interesting theories that people have when they see it."

How did the scene get shot?

Oppenheim described the setup in concrete terms. "There's a camera in the bathroom, there's a camera that was on Nathan, there's a camera outside the bathroom, and there's an interaction that we see after Billy leaves where he sort of looks at the camera and smiles," he told GQ.

That final look is what the director keeps returning to. "So I don't know what that means, but I feel like there's enough stuff in there that gives me the impression that maybe he was excited that people could see everything and that there was full access, I guess," Oppenheim said. "But it really beats me, honestly."

The director then recounted the origin of the moment. "We were in the car ride on the way back from the gym, and I said to Billy, 'We will give you some time to shower.' And Billy responded, 'Want to film me showering?'"

Oppenheim offered to shoot the scene in a way that would avoid showing Evans's genitals. Evans declined. According to Oppenheim, Billy said he "didn't care about being seen naked."

What does Evans himself say?

Evans has not joined the interpretive debate, and he has not seen the film either. Appearing on the "All-In" podcast before the documentary's release earlier this month, he admitted his own uncertainty about the project.

"I haven't seen it. I might think this is the dumbest thing I have ever done," Evans said on the podcast. He also conceded that Holmes "looks insane" in the trailer.

The film had been quietly in the works from Fielder and Oppenheim for more than three years before it hit theaters on Oct. 16. It offers an unvarnished look at Holmes a month before she began an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding Theranos investors.

How big is the film, and what awards does A24 want?

The commercial results have been unusually strong for a documentary. "You Can See Everything" brought in $15.6 million from 855 theaters in its opening weekend — the best start for a nonmusical documentary in 20 years. It added another $19.5 million in its second weekend after expanding to 2,655 venues.

A24 is not treating it as a documentary-category-only proposition. Beyond eligibility for best documentary feature at the 99th Academy Awards, the studio's awards site lists submissions across the board: best picture, director, production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound and original score.

A best-picture campaign for a documentary containing a candid full-frontal scene its own subject has never watched would be unprecedented — and it is now formally on the table.