Elizabeth Holmes Calls Nathan Fielder From Prison Ahead of Landmark Documentary Release

Disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes reached out to filmmaker Nathan Fielder with a surprise phone call from federal prison, marking their first direct conversation in over six months. The unexpected check-in occurred just prior to the theatrical release of You Can See Everything, a provocative new documentary directed by Fielder and Primetime filmmaker Lance Oppenheim that captures the final weeks of freedom for Holmes and her partner, Billy Evans, before her 11-year prison sentence began.

In a wide-ranging new interview with Wired magazine, Fielder detailed the strange nature of the phone call and the lingering confusion he feels regarding his involvement in chronicling the life of one of modern corporate history’s most infamous figures. According to the director, Holmes initiated the contact out of nowhere after half a year of absolute silence.

“She had not called me in over six months. I had not heard from her in any way… she asked how I was doing,” Fielder recalled of the conversation. He noted that he used the opportunity to ask if she had seen any promotional material or media coverage surrounding the film’s impending release and how she felt about it. Holmes reportedly told him that while she had seen a few pieces of media, she largely avoided reading articles, though she had heard about the buzz.

What followed, however, left the acclaimed auteur perplexed. According to Fielder, Holmes concluded the brief exchange by stating, “I trust you,” prompting a simple, guarded response from the director: “OK, thanks.”

The conversation did not end there. Fielder shared that the two touched upon various personal subjects, including updates regarding her children and other private matters that the director felt were not his place to disclose publicly. Yet, as the phone call drew to a close, Holmes repeated the sentiment verbatim.

“We talked about some other stuff. She talked about her kids, and then some updates that are not really my place to share. But then after that, she said again, at the end of the call—‘I trust you.’ And I don’t know what she meant by that,” Fielder admitted to Wired.

The documentary You Can See Everything provides an unprecedented, intimate look into Holmes’ life during the tense 34-day window before she reported to federal prison to begin serving her lengthy sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy tied to the collapse of her blood-testing startup, Theranos. The project came to fruition after Fielder learned through industry whispers that Holmes and Evans had previously attempted, but failed, to pitch a documentary about themselves to the independent studio A24. Recognizing an extraordinary creative opportunity, Fielder decided to intervene.

“Months later, I heard that that had happened. So I called A24 and said, ‘Well, could I meet her?’ That was the start of it all,” Fielder explained.

Even after completing the film and spending significant time embedded with the couple, Fielder remains baffled as to why Holmes agreed to let him and Oppenheim into her home. Given Fielder’s distinct body of avant-garde, boundary-pushing television work—including critically acclaimed and psychologically complex series like Nathan for You and The Rehearsal—any objective observer would recognize that granting him access would not yield a straightforward, sympathetic, or conventional biographical portrait.

“This is part of the mystery that, like, doesn’t make sense to me,” Fielder said. “I asked her that on, I think, one of the first days we shot. I still don’t fully understand it. That really messed with my head. Also, I got the sense very early that she hadn’t seen a lot, but she had seen some of what I did, and she had talked to people who had seen what I did. Billy had seen more. I think she found the clip that she said she saw funny. But you know, her relationship to that… to what’s funny? I don’t even know. She said her favorite movie is Elf, the Will Ferrell movie.”

The rationale behind opening their doors to such an unorthodox filmmaking duo was further clarified by Billy Evans just a day before the film’s theatrical premiere. Speaking on the All-In podcast, Evans explained that the couple’s primary goal was to humanize Holmes, allowing audiences to look past the media caricature and judge her character based on personal interaction rather than headlines.

“It was to have people see who she is,” Evans said during the podcast appearance. He described a recurring phenomenon he experienced with people entering his life after he began his relationship with Holmes, noting that friends and family members initially thought he had lost his mind. According to Evans, skeptics would ask if he truly understood who she was, to which he would respond by asking them to simply meet her in a natural environment, such as going for a hike or helping a friend.

“Every opinion of her would radically shift,” Evans continued. “That was the intention of the film. To help scale that up and allow other people to sit with her and make up their own minds.”

Despite those intentions, the release of You Can See Everything has arguably backfired, intensifying public scrutiny and public backlash rather than softening perceptions. The rollout began with an unsettling teaser trailer released by A24 that immediately sparked widespread discomfort online, highlighting Holmes’ demeanor and her assertions that she committed no wrongdoing during her time at the helm of Theranos.

Despite the controversy—or perhaps precisely because of it—the documentary has resonated immensely at the box office. In its domestic debut, You Can See Everything grossed an impressive $15 million, marking the largest box-office opening for a documentary feature in decades and cementing its status as a major cultural talking point.

You Can See Everything is currently playing in theaters nationwide. Nathan Fielder’s full interview can be read on Wired magazine’s official website.