While the A24 documentary “You Can See Everything” remains shrouded in secrecy, it will come as no surprise if a film co-directed by Nathan Fielder blurs the lines between fiction and reality. As the trailer shows, in addition to directing the film alongside Lance Oppenheim, the enigmatic TV star becomes a participant in the film alongside its subject Elizabeth Holmes.
With this movement comes a question that always seems to follow Fielder: Is he moving around the world? in character or be authentically Nathan? Sometimes, like in “The Rehearsal,” where he played out scripted scenarios with people, he’s both.
In terms of rewards, this results in projects that are too complex to fit neatly into a single genre. His Comedy Central series “Nathan for You” was considered a variety sketch series, even though it featured real-life scenarios (remember, Dumb Starbucks was reported on by the local news before the show even aired). For his big foray into scripted television, many thought “The Curse,” his Showtime series made with Emma Stone and Benny Safdie, would be a comedy. But as it spread, it became something strange. For the Emmys, the series was presented in the Drama Series categories, although it was not nominated.
But what’s most essential to the conversation around “You Can See Everything” is, once again, Fielder’s work on “The Rehearsal.” For the Emmys, although the series was filmed as a documentary series, HBO submitted it in the Comedy Series categories. Fielder was nominated for an Emmy Award for writing and directing the Season 2 episode “Pilot’s Code,” but was also submitted by HBO for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for playing himself on the series.
Suppose Fielder reads to an audience of his peers the role of Nathan. the character more than Nathan the person in “You can see everything”. What rewards could he even be eligible for?
The awards campaign would really start with the reviews. IndieWire has confirmed that an acting performance in a documentary is eligible in the Critics Choice Awards’ acting categories, and that would most likely also be true for the majority of Critics’ Circle awards across the country, which determine winners by committee and thrive on inspired choices aimed at expanding the creativity of other voting bodies.
But there’s also the Golden Globes, which is technically a critics’ group, but operates very differently. For example, there is no documentary category at the Golden Globes. Only documentaries in the Globes category are eligible for Best Cinematography and Box Office Achievement if the film meets the category’s criteria of earning $100 million at the domestic box office and $150 million at the worldwide box office.
The Globes rules clearly state that “documentaries (i.e., non-fiction films intended to document reality in a factual manner, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education, or preservation of a historical record) are not eligible in any of the film award categories, including the Best Picture categories.” » The rules even specify that “live-action or animated documentaries and docudramas (regardless of language) containing more than 25% documentary or audio footage are considered documentaries and, therefore, cannot be considered films”.
So if “You Can See Everything” has the green light to be eligible in all Critics Choice Awards categories, but isn’t eligible for the Golden Globes, what else is there? Acting awards!
The awards body overseen by SAG-AFTRA has rules that fall somewhere in between. Yes, they clearly state that “films must be scripted, feature films (longer than 60 minutes). Short films (60 minutes or less) are not eligible” and that “documentaries are not eligible in the film categories.”
However, if an artist like Fielder did If you still want to try to go, the Actor Awards have a petition process governed by their awards committee, which determines all rules and regulations, eligibility, and submissions. “Petitions must be submitted by email to the Awards Office, detailing the basis of the petition and the facts supporting its position. Final judgment will be made by the Awards Committee and the decision will be final and not reviewable,” reads the Actor Awards website.
On the A24 campaign website, there is currently no mention of an acting performance among the 10 categories on the “You Can See Everything” webpage. But those working on the film confirmed that while they did want to mount any type of acting campaign, it would be be eligible for the Oscars.
One of the main challenges on the road to getting a documentary like “You Can See Everything” considered as a Best Picture contender has been attracting the interest of the Actors Branch, the largest branch of the Academy, by far, so any sort of campaign to get their attention, like submitting Fielder for an acting category like he did to the Emmys for “The Rehearsal” seems like an additive choice – especially if he’s already eligible.
Gn entert
