A24 is going big for the awards season with Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s buzzy Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything — mounting Oscar campaigns across 11 categories, including the history-making bid to make it the first documentary ever nominated for Best Picture.
Amanda Seyfried (Credits: A24)
The film, which chronicles Elizabeth Holmes’ final days before she began serving her prison sentence, has been a sensation since its festival debut. Now in theaters, it’s aiming at the full spread: Best Picture, Best Documentary Feature, Director, and a craft sweep covering production design, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, and original score.
The Supporting Actress Gambit
The wildest bid is for Amanda Seyfried in Supporting Actress. The twist: this is a documentary, and Seyfried — who famously played Holmes in The Dropout — appears in the film’s back half participating in reenactments of scenes Fielder wasn’t permitted to film, alongside Christopher Abbott, who is being campaigned for Supporting Actor. Academy rules don’t disqualify an acting performance inside a documentary, so A24 is within its rights to push it. Fielder himself is also eligible as an actor — a nomination would make him the first person ever nominated for playing himself.
Can a Documentary Really Crack Best Picture?
No documentary has ever broken into the Best Picture lineup, and awards watchers are split. The film’s defenders point to its editing as a potential walk-in nomination, with director, cinematography and documentary feature as its strongest paths. Skeptics note the film lacks the traditional acting-driven momentum most Best Picture nominees carry — though a Seyfried bid could solve exactly that problem.
Either way, You Can See Everything is already one of the most talked-about films of the season, and A24’s aggressive campaign guarantees it stays that way through voting.
Source: Variety — read the full story there.
