One woman’s misery just may become another’s windfall — and our entertainment, to boot. Hollywood is planning on taking the story of Elizabeth Holmes’ dramatic rise and fall (the emergence and then failure of Theranos, and her Forbes devaluation from $4.5 billion in net worth to literally $0) and turning it into a movie starring none other than Jennifer Lawrence. I mean, at least Holmes will be represented by an Oscar winner, right?
The rather tragic riches-to-rags story of Theranos began about a year ago, when the medical testing company was still valued at around $9 billion. But following an investigation spurred by a piece in the Wall Street Journal and a bevy of federal and state probes into the supposedly breakthrough technology that would allow Theranos to use a single drop of blood to conduct a range of blood tests, the company’s fame has turned to infamy.
Which, of course, is the perfect time for Hollywood to step in.
According to a new report from Deadline, the woman we know as Katniss Everdeen (among many other notable roles), will soon transform into Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes. The film is said to be directed by Adam McKay, who enjoyed both critical and public acclaim for his work in The Big Short.
Deadline also reports that the film will be produced by Kevin Messick of Gary Sanchez Productions, who plans to approach buyers this coming week.
Given the silver screen’s previous portrayal of Silicon Valley heavyweights (think Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network and Steve Jobs in the 2015 film bearing his name), it’s probably safe to say that Holmes won’t be painted in the most flattering light. And as Holmes could certainly attest today, it is most certainly not the case that all press is good press.
All the same, the movie and all-star leading lady could, at the very least, keep Holmes and Theranos relevant for a bit longer, so maybe there is a silver lining to this adaptation after all. There’s still no word as to when the film would be released.
