The most talked about movie to emerge from this year's Telluride Film Festival has an extraordinary San Diego connection, and it goes much deeper than simply being filmed here. You Can See Everything, the secretive, nearly three-hour A24 documentary from The Rehearsal mastermind Nathan Fielder and filmmaker Lance Oppenheim, promises unprecedented access to convicted Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in the final weeks before she entered federal prison. But according to critics who attended the surprise world premiere this weekend, another figure unexpectedly becomes a major part of the movie: Holmes' partner Billy Evans, heir to one of San Diego's oldest and most influential hotel families.
And by multiple early accounts, Evans does not exactly emerge as a background character. The La Jolla-raised MIT graduate is a member of the family behind Evans Hotels, the locally rooted hospitality empire that owns the Bahia Resort Hotel on Mission Bay, Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa in Pacific Beach and ultra-luxurious Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla. His family has spent more than seven decades embedded in San Diego's tourism, business and civic establishment.
Now Evans is suddenly sharing the screen with one of America's most notorious convicted fraudsters - his longtime partner and mother of his two children - in a movie already generating extraordinary reactions from critics.
The documentary begins 34 days before Holmes reported to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas in May 2023. Fielder and Oppenheim were given remarkable access to Holmes, Evans and their children inside the family's beachside San Diego County home, reportedly in Del Mar. What apparently began as an intimate examination of Holmes grew into a bizarre three-year filmmaking odyssey that Fielder himself says he still struggles to fully understand.
The film's first half reportedly places viewers almost voyeuristically inside Holmes and Evans' domestic life. One review describes the couple cooking breakfast, raising their children and interacting with Fielder while Holmes continues to insist she did not lie about Theranos. Even something as mundane as Evans taking a whisk away from Holmes while she makes eggs becomes fodder for Fielder's characteristically uncomfortable questioning.
The documentary begins 34 days before Holmes reported to Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas in May 2023. Fielder and Oppenheim were given remarkable access to Holmes, Evans and their children inside the family's beachside San Diego County home, reportedly in Del Mar. What apparently began as an intimate examination of Holmes grew into a bizarre three-year filmmaking odyssey that Fielder himself says he still struggles to fully understand.
The film's first half reportedly places viewers almost voyeuristically inside Holmes and Evans' domestic life. One review describes the couple cooking breakfast, raising their children and interacting with Fielder while Holmes continues to insist she did not lie about Theranos. Even something as mundane as Evans taking a whisk away from Holmes while she makes eggs becomes fodder for Fielder's characteristically uncomfortable questioning.
But after Holmes enters prison, something unexpected reportedly happens. Billy Evans becomes an increasingly important subject himself. The Hollywood Reporter describes Evans as stepping into the vacuum left by Holmes' incarceration, including speaking publicly on her behalf and even posting from Holmes' verified social-media account. Variety's review is even more striking, describing Evans as continuing to make himself accessible to the filmmakers as the movie increasingly scrutinizes his personality, relationship with Holmes and efforts to influence her public image.
For San Diegans, that makes You Can See Everything considerably closer to home than another retelling of Silicon Valley's most infamous startup scandal. Long before Billy Evans became internationally known as Elizabeth Holmes' partner, his family name was synonymous with San Diego tourism.
San Diego natives William D. and Anne Evans founded Evans Hotels in 1953, when the Bahia opened with just 52 rooms as the first commercial lessee on the newly developed Mission Bay. The family later developed the Catamaran and eventually transformed a small Torrey Pines inn into The Lodge at Torrey Pines, the AAA Five Diamond resort overlooking the famed municipal golf course.
For San Diegans, that makes You Can See Everything considerably closer to home than another retelling of Silicon Valley's most infamous startup scandal. Long before Billy Evans became internationally known as Elizabeth Holmes' partner, his family name was synonymous with San Diego tourism.
San Diego natives William D. and Anne Evans founded Evans Hotels in 1953, when the Bahia opened with just 52 rooms as the first commercial lessee on the newly developed Mission Bay. The family later developed the Catamaran and eventually transformed a small Torrey Pines inn into The Lodge at Torrey Pines, the AAA Five Diamond resort overlooking the famed municipal golf course.
Evans Hotels today describes itself as a "civic institution" and employs more than 1,200 people. Its footprint includes three of San Diego's best-known resorts as well as the Bahia Belle and William D. Evans sternwheelers that ply Mission Bay.
The family's reach has extended far beyond hotel rooms. Billy's father, William "Bill" Evans, has held positions with numerous organizations central to San Diego's tourism and business establishment, including the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Convention Center Corporation, San Diego Hotel-Motel Association, Mission Bay Lessees Association and San Diego Historical Society.
Billy's aunt Grace Evans Cherashore, pictured below, is the executive chairwoman of Evans Hotels and has an equally formidable résumé. She has served on the California Chamber of Commerce board since 2012 and chaired it in 2019. She previously served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Los Angeles Branch, including a term as chair, and has held positions connected to UC San Diego's Rady School of Management, San Diego Economic Development Corporation, The Bishop's School and other institutions. She currently serves as a trustee of the San Diego History Center.
The family's reach has extended far beyond hotel rooms. Billy's father, William "Bill" Evans, has held positions with numerous organizations central to San Diego's tourism and business establishment, including the San Diego Tourism Marketing District, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, San Diego Convention Center Corporation, San Diego Hotel-Motel Association, Mission Bay Lessees Association and San Diego Historical Society.
Billy's aunt Grace Evans Cherashore, pictured below, is the executive chairwoman of Evans Hotels and has an equally formidable résumé. She has served on the California Chamber of Commerce board since 2012 and chaired it in 2019. She previously served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's Los Angeles Branch, including a term as chair, and has held positions connected to UC San Diego's Rady School of Management, San Diego Economic Development Corporation, The Bishop's School and other institutions. She currently serves as a trustee of the San Diego History Center.
In other words, this isn't merely a wealthy family that happens to own a few hotels. The Evans name has been woven into San Diego's tourism and civic infrastructure for generations.
And the family's intersection with the Holmes saga has already produced some truly strange chapters. During jury selection for Holmes' 2021 federal fraud trial, reporters noticed an unusually chatty, masked man hanging around the courthouse. He reportedly introduced himself as "Hanson," characterized himself as a concerned citizen and media watchdog, and told journalists he was a car enthusiast simply interested in watching the proceedings.
He wasn't just some random courthouse spectator. The mystery man was ultimately identified as Billy's father, Bill Evans. SanDiegoVille reported on the episode at the time as part of our examination of the remarkably deep connection between the Holmes saga and one of San Diego's most prominent hospitality families. Following the sharing of information about the connection between Elizabeth Holmes and Evans Hotels on the SanDiegoVille Instagram account, our profile was blocked by the Instagram pages for Catamaran Resort & Spa, The Lodge at Torrey Pines and Bahia Resort.
He wasn't just some random courthouse spectator. The mystery man was ultimately identified as Billy's father, Bill Evans. SanDiegoVille reported on the episode at the time as part of our examination of the remarkably deep connection between the Holmes saga and one of San Diego's most prominent hospitality families. Following the sharing of information about the connection between Elizabeth Holmes and Evans Hotels on the SanDiegoVille Instagram account, our profile was blocked by the Instagram pages for Catamaran Resort & Spa, The Lodge at Torrey Pines and Bahia Resort.
Billy himself had taken an unusual path into the Theranos story. Raised in La Jolla, he graduated from MIT with an economics degree in 2015, subsequently worked at LinkedIn and autonomous-vehicle technology company Luminar Technologies, and reportedly met Holmes at a Fleet Week gathering in the Bay Area in 2017 - after Theranos had already become engulfed in scandal. Their relationship endured Holmes' prosecution, conviction and imprisonment, and the couple now shares two children.
Then came perhaps the most astonishing twist yet. In 2025, news broke that Evans was raising millions of dollars for a new biotech company called Haemanthus. Yes, Elizabeth Holmes' partner launched another diagnostic-testing startup.
NPR reported that Haemanthus was developing technology using Raman spectroscopy and artificial intelligence to analyze biological materials including blood, saliva and urine, initially targeting veterinary applications. Even more remarkably, sources told NPR that Holmes herself had been advising Evans on the venture from federal prison, although she was not expected to hold a formal role in the company.
Then came perhaps the most astonishing twist yet. In 2025, news broke that Evans was raising millions of dollars for a new biotech company called Haemanthus. Yes, Elizabeth Holmes' partner launched another diagnostic-testing startup.
NPR reported that Haemanthus was developing technology using Raman spectroscopy and artificial intelligence to analyze biological materials including blood, saliva and urine, initially targeting veterinary applications. Even more remarkably, sources told NPR that Holmes herself had been advising Evans on the venture from federal prison, although she was not expected to hold a formal role in the company.
Haemanthus itself publicly acknowledged the elephant in the room, stating: "Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes' partner. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar." The company also insisted: "This is not Theranos 2.0."
Holmes' rise and collapse have already spawned bestselling books, podcasts, HBO's The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley and Hulu's acclaimed The Dropout, which earned Amanda Seyfried an Emmy for portraying Holmes. But You Can See Everything is different.
Rather than reconstructing the scandal from interviews and archival footage, Fielder and Oppenheim were actually inside Holmes and Evans' home during her final weeks of freedom. The movie then continued evolving for years after she entered prison. Early reviews suggest the filmmakers increasingly turn their attention toward Evans and the question of who gets to control Holmes' story when Holmes herself can no longer freely participate.
The result has produced some spectacularly bewildered reactions. Critics emerging from Telluride have called the movie shocking, hilarious, unsettling and structurally unlike a conventional documentary. Fielder said after the premiere that even members of his own crew couldn't agree on how to interpret what they were witnessing inside the Holmes-Evans household.
Holmes' rise and collapse have already spawned bestselling books, podcasts, HBO's The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley and Hulu's acclaimed The Dropout, which earned Amanda Seyfried an Emmy for portraying Holmes. But You Can See Everything is different.
Rather than reconstructing the scandal from interviews and archival footage, Fielder and Oppenheim were actually inside Holmes and Evans' home during her final weeks of freedom. The movie then continued evolving for years after she entered prison. Early reviews suggest the filmmakers increasingly turn their attention toward Evans and the question of who gets to control Holmes' story when Holmes herself can no longer freely participate.
The result has produced some spectacularly bewildered reactions. Critics emerging from Telluride have called the movie shocking, hilarious, unsettling and structurally unlike a conventional documentary. Fielder said after the premiere that even members of his own crew couldn't agree on how to interpret what they were witnessing inside the Holmes-Evans household.
That makes the film something San Diego audiences may want to watch especially closely. Behind one of the most notorious corporate scandals in modern American history sits a family deeply intertwined with San Diego: from Mission Bay's earliest resort development to the Catamaran, Bahia and Lodge at Torrey Pines; from tourism boards and business organizations to the Federal Reserve and some of the region's prominent civic institutions. And now a member of that family appears poised to become one of the most talked-about characters in one of the year's most talked-about documentaries.
Holmes is currently scheduled to be released from federal custody on December 30, 2031, although that date could change, and she has sought a presidential commutation that could potentially free her years earlier.
You Can See Everything will be released by A24 in theaters this October.
You Can See Everything will be released by A24 in theaters this October.
Originally published on September 7, 2026.
