Key points
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Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris filmed commercials for Theranos in the mid-2010s.
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The Oscar winner revealed that he filmed two hours of interview footage with the company’s founder, Elizabeth Holmes, that have not been released.
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“I am sincerely interested in putting that out as an unedited film,” he said.
We might be getting even more Elizabeth Holmes documentary footage soon.
Errol Morris, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind documentaries like The Thin Blue Line, spent time with Holmes in the mid-2010s, while directing commercials for her blood-testing company, Theranos. In a new interview with Variety, Morris revealed that he’s sitting on a trove of footage of Holmes, which has yet to be released to the public.
“I asked her, at a certain point, if I could film an interview with her — and this is at the height of her success — and I did film a two-hour interview with her, which is not very well-known if it is known at all,” Morris said, noting that he might release the footage soon. “I am sincerely interested in putting that out as an unedited film.”
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to a representative for Holmes for comment.
Errol Morris in Venice on Aug. 29, 2024
Credit: JB Lacroix/FilmMagic
Morris, who has directed “probably 1,000” commercials across his career, was responsible for the unforgettable Theranos commercials that saw Holmes standing in front of a white background while directly addressing the camera. He clarified who has seen his Holmes interview footage: “Well, myself and the people in my office, but yes, for all intents and purposes, it has not been seen by anyone.”
The documentarian believes that showing footage of Holmes from the peak of her fame before her public downfall could be an informative exercise. “If anything, it gives you a comparison of Elizabeth before and Elizabeth after, which I think is interesting in and of itself,” he said.
Morris tried to explain why he’s yet to release the interview footage of Holmes. “Because the company fell apart and she was prosecuted… but I can’t really answer it,” he said. “The clearest answer is that I’d moved on. But now I feel pretty strongly that this is an interesting document — not because I’m trying to prove something about Elizabeth Holmes, but it does provide some kind of evidence of what she was like when everything was going her way.”
The filmmaker’s takeaway from his interview? “That she was a true believer” in Theranos, he told Variety.
“What interests me is: To what extent was she self-deceived? To what extent did she believe in her own bulls—?” he said elsewhere in the interview. “[Bad Blood author and journalist John] Carreyrou understandably wants to tell you that she knowingly committed fraud, is guilty, should have been convicted and is in prison, as she should be. I keep wondering about the psychology of self-deception because part of me believes that she believes in Theranos and that she could achieve the results as promised.”
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Holmes is the subject of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary, You Can See Everything, which chronicles her life in the weeks leading up to her going to prison in the spring of 2023, as well as the aftermath of her incarceration. The film is now playing in theaters.
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