Amanda Seyfried makes an unexpected appearance in the documentary Tudo Pode Ser Visto, which examines the final 34 days of Elizabeth Holmes’s life before she began serving a prison sentence for fraud involving Theranos, the blood-testing company she founded.
Seyfried, 40, is known for films including Mean Girls and Mamma Mia! She won an Emmy for portraying Holmes in the 2022 series The Dropout. Directors Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder invited her to take part in the documentary after the production faced difficulties finding people willing to discuss Holmes.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Oppenheim said that several people outside Holmes’s circle declined to speak with the filmmakers because they viewed the former executive as having a toxic personality. That search eventually led them to Seyfried.
Fielder said the actress also gave the project a new narrative direction. Although Holmes’s imprisonment seemed to provide a natural ending, the filmmakers felt the documentary was not complete after editing its first half and continuing to have conversations about events that had taken place off camera.
Seyfried’s first in-person meeting with the directors took place in front of the cameras as she watched footage from the documentary. She initially expressed no interest in portraying Holmes again, but began imitating her during the meeting. The spontaneous reaction prompted the filmmakers to explore the actress’s connection with the character and her own experiences with the role.
Tudo Pode Ser Visto follows Holmes during the period immediately before she began her sentence. Theranos had promised to perform hundreds of blood tests using a single drop of blood, becoming the focus of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest scandals.
Holmes was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after being accused of defrauding investors while running the now-defunct startup. She has been serving her sentence at the federal FPC Bryan facility in Texas since May 2023.
The documentary is scheduled to open in theaters on November 26.
Sources: CNN Brasil.