'You Can See Everything' Will Make You Question Everything

In this special bonus episode, Sophie and Rudi discuss “You Can See Everything,” Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s mind-bending new documentary about Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes that follows her and fiancee Billy Evans in the days leading up to her prison sentence. The less said about the movie before you see it the better, so go see it before listening if you haven’t already.

Because this is still an adaptation podcast, before discussing “You Can See Everything,” Rudi shares his thoughts on “Whalefall,” a new film adaptation of the 2023 Daniel Kraus survival thriller novel, which stars Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin. (00:01:55)

The conversation on A24’s “You Can See Everything” (00:06:20) begins with Sophie sharing why she finds Holmes (already the subject of the HBO documentary “The Inventor” and the Hulu series “The Dropout,” starring Amanda Seyfried) so fascinating. She also explains how reading John Carreyrou’s book about Theranos, “Bad Blood,” unlocked her passion for nonfiction books. (00:08:33)

Rudi then talks about why he’s such a big fan of Fielder’s work and gives a primer on his TV shows — “Nathan For You,” “The Rehearsal" and “The Curse” — and shares a quote from a 2017 interview he did with Fielder for The Washington Post. (00:14:19) Then he explains why Oppenheim’s stylistic approach to documentary (as seen in “Renn Faire” and “Spermworld”) made him a perfect collaborator for this project. (00:20:34)

From there, Sophie and Rudi get deep into spoilers for “You Can See Everything.” (00:23:34) Throughout their discussion, they explain why they found this movie so thrilling, whether or not this changes their opinion of Holmes, why Fielder and Oppenheim are able to take this film into places you wouldn’t expect, and how the entire experience left them questioning reality and the nature of documentary filmmaking. They also discuss the film’s awards chances, the questions it poses but doesn’t answer, and how “You Can See Everything” explores adaptation in fascinating ways.

Next week, we’re talking about “Carrie” writer-director Mike Flanagan’s reimagining of Stephen King’s first horror novel from 1974. The Prime Video series stars Summer H. Howell, Samantha Sloyan and Matthew Lillard.

It Was A Book First is the podcast about new book-to-screen adaptations. Subscribe now to get new episodes delivered weekly on Wednesdays.

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Hosts and producers: Sophie Vershbow and Rudi Greenberg

Editing: Rudi Greenberg

Social media: Sophie Vershbow

Music: Cliff Blum and John Connelly; music production: Kevin Pons

Logo: Trisha Louise Prieto

Website: Kevin Pfab