Amanda Seyfried moved closer to an Academy Award nomination this week, climbing to No. 6 in Gold Derby’s Best Supporting Actress odds for her surprise appearance in You Can See Everything. The move, reported on November 4, leaves her one place outside the five nomination slots, and it comes as the film keeps drawing crowds and strong reviews.
Gold Derby’s combined odds moved Seyfried up 13 percentage points, while its panel of experts moved her up 25 points. The Top 5 in the category is led by Anne Hathaway and Samantha Morton, both for The Odyssey, followed by Penelope Cruz for La Bola Negra and Tao Okamoto for All of a Sudden. Cruz also holds a second possible nomination in the same category for The Invite, and this is the first year the Academy has allowed an actor to receive two nominations in one acting category for different performances.
Amanda Seyfried climbs to No. 6 in Gold Derby odds
The climb reflects an unusual awards season for the A24 film. No performer has ever received an acting Oscar nomination for appearing in a documentary, and Gold Derby has confirmed that Amanda Seyfried is eligible under the Academy’s rules. A24 is campaigning her for Best Supporting Actress, and Variety has predicted the film will land nominations in five categories, including Best Picture and Best Director for Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim.
Talk of a nomination for Amanda Seyfried grew after actor Timothy Simons praised her work on The Kyle Buchanan Show. Simons said he would vote for her, and added that both times he saw the film, his mind had “completely melded the two people together” when he looked at her as Holmes. Seyfried answered the clip on Instagram with a short message that read “TIMOTHY” and a pair of heart symbols.
Amanda Seyfried and the documentary acting question
The main question around Amanda Seyfried is whether voters will treat a performance inside a documentary the same way they treat one in a scripted film. Documentaries are not eligible for the Golden Globes, so she will not be in that race. The Actor Awards also exclude documentaries, though she could petition for an exception. Recognition from the Critics Choice Awards looks more likely, given the critical response to the film, which holds a 96 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Critics have praised Amanda Seyfried in strong terms. Slate called her work “remarkable,” Vulture called it “deft, haunting,” and Variety called it “her most compelling screen work ever.” The film earned $15 million in its opening weekend in October, playing on 855 screens, and it is on pace to rank among the highest grossing documentaries in history.
The film behind the campaign
You Can See Everything follows Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes during her final weeks at home with her partner, Billy Evans, and their two young children before she starts her prison sentence for defrauding investors. The film is co-directed by Fielder and Oppenheim. Halfway through, Fielder loses access to the imprisoned Holmes and recruits Amanda Seyfried to reenact scenes as Holmes, a role she first played in the Hulu series The Dropout.
Seyfried won an Emmy for playing Holmes in The Dropout, which aired in 2022. In the film she also appears as herself, talking with Evans as a stand-in for the audience. Her appearance was kept out of the marketing, so many viewers learned of it only when they reached the second half of the film.
What happens next
Amanda Seyfried has yet to start a formal awards campaign for the role, in part because A24 has tried to keep her appearance a surprise. She did appear at the recent Academy Museum Gala, where she gave a few brief red carpet interviews. The film opened in theaters in October and has continued to play well into November, with A24 keeping Seyfried out of its awards materials to protect the surprise. The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 21.