When Amanda Seyfried was cast as Elizabeth Holmes in Hulu’s biographical limited series The Dropout, many questioned on social media whether or not the Oscar-nominated actor could nail Holmes’ allegedly faked deep voice.
The answer is finally here: She can.
Don’t be fooled by the first seconds of the trailer, the reveal is gradual. When we first hear Seyfried as Holmes, she speaks at an octave that’s only slightly lower than her own in a voiceover. Then, the camera pans to reveal Seyfried, as the Theranos founder, dressed in her signature Steve Jobs-inspired, all-black outfit.
The trailer low-key trolls those of us who’d been eager to hear the deep voice by then cutting to Holmes as a Stanford student with plans to drop out and start her own company. She shows off the innovative technology that would allow blood tests to be administered with small amounts of blood rapidly.
(Of course, as we know now, Theranos never actually found a way to get the technology it touted having.)
As the trailer shows, Holmes becomes deeply invested in making Theranos successful, attempting to prove naysayers wrong. “I can’t give them one reason to doubt me,” says Seyfried, still as a regular-voiced Holmes.
Things start to go wrong when there’s no working prototype to show investors. But despite not having the promised, game-changing technology that would’ve bee a breakthrough in health technology, Holmes becomes too power-hungry to let the dream go.
Her transformation is highlighted in a sequence that shows her practicing her signature low voice while eerily repeating the words, “This is an inspiring step forward” in front of the mirror. There’s also the juxtaposition of Holmes being on the cover of Forbes and Fortune, while her life begins to unravel as it gets tougher to hide Theranos’ alleged scam.
The trailer also gives glimpses at Seyfried’s co-stars, including Stephen Fry, Naveen Andrews, Alan Ruck, Sam Waterston, William H. Macy, Laurie Metcalf, and more.
The Dropout premieres on Hulu on March 3.