By Fatma Younis
Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris is considering releasing a previously unseen, two-hour interview with Elizabeth Holmes, filmed in 2015 when the Theranos founder was at the height of her success. Morris, known for documentaries such as The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War, was hired by Holmes that year to direct advertisements for the blood-testing startup.
Interview filmed during Theranos peak
Morris told Variety that he conducted the in-depth interview separately from the commercial work, and excerpts later appeared in Alex Gibney’s 2019 documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. He said the full interview has been seen only by himself and his office staff, and he is now interested in releasing it unedited to show “a comparison of Elizabeth before and Elizabeth after.”
Morris reflects on Holmes’s self-deception
Morris said he had no reason to suspect fraud at the time, as Holmes appeared on magazine covers and was widely celebrated. After watching the interview again, he concluded that Holmes was “a true believer” in her technology, adding that he is more interested in the psychology of self-deception than in whether she was lying.
Recent documentary renews interest
Holmes has returned to public attention through the nearly three-hour documentary You Can See Everything, directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, which opened in North America on Oct. 16 and earned $15.6 million in its opening weekend — the biggest documentary debut in over two decades. Holmes was sentenced in 2022 to 11 years and three months in prison for defrauding investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, though she was acquitted of charges related to defrauding patients.
