Oct 29, 2026 · 25 min
A24’s Holmes film jolts the Oscar race
Nathan Fielder Mania & ‘Odyssey’ Oscar Buzz
The episode examines how a secretive, genre-bending documentary became a cultural hit while complicating Hollywood’s awards and ethics debates.
- 1A24 turned an unconventional Elizabeth Holmes documentary into a surprise theatrical phenomenon through secrecy, timing, and meme-friendly marketing.
- 2The film’s reenactments and celebrity appearances challenge documentary conventions while raising ethical questions about portraying real people.
- 3The Odyssey leads the early Best Picture conversation as Netflix’s theatrical strategy and Amazon’s OpenAI ties reshape the awards landscape.
Don't miss
The hosts debate whether You Can See Everything’s hybrid form can qualify for Best Picture despite resistance from the documentary branch.
The brief
Matthew Belloni and Peter Hamby begin with You Can See Everything, an A24 documentary about Elizabeth Holmes that became a surprise box-office and cultural phenomenon.
Its secret production, stealth Telluride launch, reenactments, celebrity appearances, and meme-friendly campaign blur documentary boundaries—and provoke objections from nonfiction filmmakers.
The film’s portrayal of Holmes, Billy Evans, and Amanda Seyfried raises a sharper question: what ethical obligations apply when real people become characters in a hybrid work?
Belloni places The Odyssey at the front of the early Best Picture race and explains why Netflix is protecting a major theatrical window for Oscar credibility.
The conversation widens to Amazon’s OpenAI-related controversy, a politically charged film acquired by Neon, and the commercial and critical stumble of The Social Network sequel.
The episode closes with lighter awards contenders, including a film about Rocky’s making, and Belloni’s prediction that Paul Giamatti could earn a supporting-actor nomination.
Books & mentions
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