Documentary revisits disputed quote in Elizabeth Holmes interview
A new documentary examines a contested quote from a 2023 interview with Elizabeth Holmes, while the journalist who reported it explains why she lacks the original notebook.
The documentary “You Can See Everything” explores a disagreement over a quote attributed to Elizabeth Holmes in a 2023 profile by The New York Times. The film shows Holmes asserting that she was misquoted, claiming she said, “They’re playing a character they created,” while the original article printed, “They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created.”
Holmes’ partner, Billy Evans, says he recorded the interview but cannot produce evidence of a misquote. An intertitle notes that the filmmakers contacted the Times journalist, who affirmed the accuracy of the quote but offered no supporting documentation.
“As we walked, I told Holmes that I heard Jennifer Lawrence had recently pulled out of portraying her in a movie. She looked over at me, and said: ‘They’re not playing me. They’re playing a character I created,’” the journalist, Amy Chozick, told the Times.
Chozick explained that she recorded the conversation only in handwritten notes, which she later highlighted and flagged with a Post-it. She said she no longer has the notebook and therefore cannot produce the original record.
“I wasn’t going to put a recorder in Holmes’s face as we walked on the beach. I take notes constantly, to jot down important quotes and details and to incorporate my impressions in real time,” Chozick said.
She added that her editors had reviewed and confirmed the quote in 2023, and that she had not anticipated its later appearance in a documentary. When asked about the reliability of the quote without the notebook, Chozick acknowledged the question and reiterated that Holmes had not disputed the specific wording.
“It’s a fair question,” Chozick said. “Holmes spoke openly, over several days, about the persona she created at Theranos. She did not dispute that quote or its surrounding context.”
The documentary does not provide a definitive answer to the dispute, leaving the accuracy of the quote dependent on the journalist’s recollection and editorial verification.