Nathan Fielder Did Not Want to Be On Camera for Elizabeth Holmes Doc

Nathan Fielder never planned to step in front of the camera for You Can See Everything.

The comedian told The Hollywood Reporter he arrived intending to stay in the background as co-director. The film has since opened to $15 million from 855 North American theatres, in figures reported on Oct. 19.

Fielder directed the documentary with Lance Oppenheim for A24. It centres on Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos and a convicted fraudster. Its title comes from a promise Holmes made to the film-makers about access.

Fielder said his original plan was simple. He would observe quietly at the beach house rented by Holmes and her husband Billy Evans. Then the couple kept pulling him into the conversation.

Holmes and Evans repeatedly asked him, “Nathan, what do you think?” Fielder said the camera operators would then pan to him. It happened so often that staying silent stopped making sense.

He said he decided to interject because he felt the couple were pushing propaganda. Someone had to push back, he said, rather than let them run the show.

Filming was tense in other ways. Fielder told People he worried the guest house he stayed in was bugged. The film also notes at the end that Evans changed his mind and decided not to accept payment, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Then came a call from prison. Holmes rang Fielder shortly before release, Variety reported. During that conversation, she repeatedly told him, “I Trust You.”

What makes this stand out is the scale of the opening. It is the biggest non-concert documentary debut since Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004. The film will play in theatres in the U.K. and Ireland from Nov. 20.