Can Amanda Seyfried receive awards for her acclaimed portrayal of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s hit documentary You can see everything? No performance featured in a documentary has ever been nominated by a major awards group. Many weren’t even sure it was possible. Today, the major awards groups have made their decision, and The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively communicate their (divided) decisions.
Seyfried was tried eligible for Best Supporting Actress nominated by the Critics Choice Awards – but ineligible at the Golden Globes, BAFTA and Actor Awards. SAG-AFTRA, which is behind the Actor Awards, encouraged A24 to file a formal appeal in an attempt to qualify Seyfried, but insiders say no appeal will be filed. The studio is focused on an Oscar nomination.
The deadline for submitting applications to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is today, after which the executive committees of its various branches will begin reviewing applications. Official determinations will be published in early December. But in the meantime, THR has learned that A24 has received assurances from its cast executive committee representatives that there is no reason to believe it will not be approved.
Per the Academy’s rules governing the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, “films submitted in this category may also be eligible for awards in other categories if they meet specified requirements.” And according to the organization’s rules for acting awards, “the Acting Branch Executive Committee shall have the right and responsibility to resolve all questions of eligibility.” ” In other words, it’s up to the Actors Branch executive committee, which has already deemed eligible actor names in the materials for those who received on-screen credits, as Seyfried did – and they have no incentive to prevent their constituents from having the opportunity to vote to nominate someone.
In his first one-on-one interview about the film, Seyfried – who landed a 2020 Oscar nomination man and approached another one for 2025 Ann Lee’s will – tell THR that she’s excited to hit the campaign trail and promote not only her performance but also the film itself, which could earn her another nomination in a category that has never before rewarded a documentary: best film. “Now that they’re going to let me go and show me, I’m down!” Seyfried said.
You can see everythingg mixes traditional documentation techniques with reenactments featuring Seyfried. The film has a 96 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and recently became the fourth documentary to top the domestic box office. It grossed over $80 million worldwide and is still playing in nearly 2,500 theaters. Last Sunday, it won the Critics Choice Documentary Awards. And Fielder and Oppenheim are currently in the UK to take part in a post-screening Q&A for members of the Academy and the British Academy – including one hosted by Olivia Wilde – which has attracted the likes of Richard Curtis, Cate Blanchett, Riz Ahmed, Barbara Broccoli and Alex Garland.
In our conversation below, Seyfried reveals when she first realized the film might have legs and that she’s fully committed to the demands of a season-long campaign. “A campaign is a lot,” she said, “It takes time. It takes all of your energy. And I’m more than willing to do it.”
Amanda, you’ve been up for awards several times – we talked about it when you were up for man, Long bright river And Ann Lee’s will. When you were shooting these projects, I guess you realized you might find yourself in the awards conversation, right? Was this also the case for You can see everything?
With Anne Lee maybe, because I thought it was so special and weird, and special and weird movies sometimes have a kind of halo effect. But I usually have low expectations because I don’t want to be disappointed. With You can see everythingI didn’t even know if it was ever going to come out! They (Fielder and Oppenheim) were looking for the story. They said early on that A24 was saying, “See what happens. And if nothing happens, it doesn’t matter.”
I was at this surprise first screening of You can see everything at the Telluride Film Festival on September 6. You were abroad to promote another film. How did you first learn that people who had seen the film were excited about it and your contribution?
I was in Venice and only found out a few hours before bed that they were showing the movie in Telluride. I thought (Oppenheim) was going to Telluride to screen Prime time (Oppenheim’s other film from 2026), so I was as aware as everyone else. Later, Nathan said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” I was like, “I don’t care, it’s just good news.” “They’re super low-key for a reason, and I totally respect that.
Nathan had screened it for me months before, and I was like, “Okay, cool. I mean, maybe it’ll come out.” Nobody really knew. So when I found out before I went to bed in Venice that the movie was showing in Telluride, I was really nervous and excited, because I knew it was industry people. And then I woke up to all this chatter and text from the people involved in the film, and that was the day I realized that this was going to be some sort of event piece, something that gets under people’s skin. Whether you like it or not, you always think about it.
People have been trying to figure out how to describe and recognize your work in the film. This sparked some interesting conversations: “Is the film a documentary?” Is what you do in the film a performance? How can he be a performance in a documentary? Is it possible to designer a performance in a documentary? My question for you: do You do you see it as a performance?
Yes, I do. The re-enactments were definitely a challenge. But it’s not like I ever thought I’d be up for any sort of reward. I understand politics, luck and the timing of rewards. I don’t really know if we can fully consider it a documentary – it’s very different from genres. I’ve seen a lot of documentaries, but not enough to know if they’ve ever done anything like this. I know people have said they’ve never seen anything like it.
I didn’t see the reenactments as anything very special when I watched them – I thought the movie It was interesting – but what I understood from actors I really respect is that the reenactments seem fluid to people after spending 100 minutes with Elizabeth Holmes. I go into the movie and I’m able to be myself and have an opinion and question Nathan – and also disappear at the end in the prison scene. The fact that actors I respect and love say they experienced this almost as if it were her is the most incredibly flattering thing I’ve ever experienced, and it makes me feel good. And there is SO a lot of actors wanting to talk to me about the film, which is so fun because I would talk about work all day!
The experiential feeling I got when I was a part of it and watching it — I feel like that’s why everyone’s talking about it! Is it necessarily need be celebrated in every way during awards season? No, it’s already celebrated. But do people want to question the reward structure? Probably.
Whether or not the documentary arm of the Academy embraces the film, it seems that plenty of other people in other branches of the Academy love the film and want to recognize it, and A24 appears to be moving full speed ahead with some sort of unconventional campaign that will seek that kind of recognition. How ready are you to be a part of it?
I am fully present for this. I think the number of events and the amount of presence you need to campaign for these things is pretty extreme – you saw me go through that last year – but it’s all still very positive because getting a seat at the table is the thing. It’s not necessarily about winning, it’s more about getting a seat at the table, even literally at the The Hollywood Journalist round table, or stuff like that.
By the way, we are very happy that you are part of it. THANKS.
Oh my God, yeah, of course! Put me in a room with other actors and I’m very happy. A campaign is a lot. It takes time. It takes all your energy. And I’m totally willing to do that. A24 is awesome. They’re excited and I’m very proud of the film, so I’m totally ready to commit to it. And I love these filmmakers! I had a great time with this little team. And I think because (the experience) is so rare and it’s never going to happen again, I’m doubling down on it.
That doesn’t mean I’m going to do it All I did it last year, because I had one yearan interesting year personally (Seyfried and her husband, Thomas Sadoski, who are parents of two, announced their separation in September), and as grateful as I am to be where I am, my priorities are pretty clear. The fact that they (A24) didn’t need me to be involved in the press until now was a godsend, because I needed to be at home.
But I’ll do what I have to do because I support the film and I support the fact that it’s unconventional and I want that to proliferate, if that makes sense? I want (Hollywood) to continue to be brave. I want to be part of something that inspires actors to take risks, because yeah, I didn’t know what I was getting into, but I had trust in a few people, and then I found myself in a project that changed my life.
I have been working for a long time, but I am having an extraordinary experience with You can see everything. He follows me everywhere, and it’s great, it’s so much fun. I like to talk — you’ve seen me — about things that I’m crazy about…
Gn entert
