If you’re looking for a one-weekend binge that will make you think, check out The Dropout. The series was released in 2022, and while it received positive attention then, everyone should still be watching it, recommending it, and discussing its frustrating main character and perfect tone today. In an ideal pop culture world, a thriller makes viewers reflect on big ideas and features juicy twists and turns, too. Sometimes, we have to settle for one or the other. There’s nothing wrong with a purely entertaining thriller… but it’s nice when some shows, like Netflix’s hit thriller You, fit into both of those categories.
While The Dropout tells a very different story than the thriller about manipulative and good-looking serial killer Joe Goldberg, it’s just as binge-worthy. However, there’s another reason to tune into The Dropout: one Hollywood star was such a big fan that they made a major career decision after watching it.
‘The Dropout’ Is a Great Weekend Binge
The Dropout is a perfect eight-episode binge on Hulu, and that’s all thanks to its clever storytelling about Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried), who founded the tech start-up Theranos. As we know, she invented a blood test that would diagnose people much earlier than typically occurs. And as we also know, it didn’t work. Holmes received an 11-year prison sentence in 2022 on four counts of fraud, and at the time of this writing, will be released on Aug. 16, 2032.
The biggest question when telling a true story is where to start and end. Do you chart the entire course of someone’s life, or pick out one crucial year? This is the problem that some biopics have, although the best movies in this genre get it right. Anyone can watch The Dropout, no matter how much knowledge they have of Holmes’s story. Those who listened to the podcast of the same name or read the non-fiction book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup can still get a lot out of it.
The Dropout starts in 2002, when Holmes went to Beijing as a Stanford University student. The story follows her big dreams at Stanford, her choice to leave, and her belief that her idea will work no matter what. Episode 8, “Lizzy,” is dark and heavy, with all of Holmes’s choices coming to a head. It’s a story about dreams, reality, self-belief, and trauma. And it may not be a documentary, but it feels completely real.
Yes, Seyfried’s performance is the main reason to watch the Hulu miniseries The Dropout, but the other cast members deserve love, too. It’s hard to think of another crime thriller miniseries that has such a wonderful cast. LisaGay Hamilton is wonderful as a Wall Street Journal editor whom John Carreyrou (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the real journalist who broke the story, works for. Sam Waterson played George Shultz, Stephen Fry portrayed scientist Ian Gibbons, and Laurie Metcalf played Phyllis Gardner, a Stanford University prof. who tells Elizabeth she can’t accomplish what she thinks she can. Wait, there’s more! Lost star Naveen Andrews is a stand-out as Elizabeth’s romantic partner, Sunny Balwani, who is also the COO of Theranos.
Some thriller miniseries based on true crimes can be over-the-top, and the villains don’t always feel human. Or perhaps they don’t add anything all that interesting to the case that people don’t already know, like the underwhelming The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox. The Dropout tells a great tale about a figure people have heard a lot about, and it’s much better than pretty much any other show in the genre.
Why Jennifer Lawrence’s Elizabeth Holmes Movie Never Got Made After ‘The Dropout’
Amanda Seyfried wasn’t the only actress who was going to portray Elizabeth Holmes. As Kyle Buchanan, a reporter at The New York Times, shared on X, Jennifer Lawrence left Bad Blood, a movie that Adam McKay was going to direct, once she had completed The Dropout.
It’s nice to imagine a favorite actor binge-watching a show. (Those Hollywood stars, they’re just like us, right?) Although Bad Blood is still listed on McKay’s IMDb page under upcoming projects, we haven’t heard any news in several years. So, it seems unlikely that it will get made.
While McKay has made some amazing movies, including The Big Short, it’s not the worst thing in the world not to get an Elizabeth Holmes movie. We can likely all agree that Lawrence’s performance would have been excellent. But, honestly, Lawrence was totally right. Seyfried is wonderful in The Dropout. It’s not an easy feat to pull off this kind of role. People had preconceived ideas about Holmes, whether they had read news articles or listened to the podcast.
Another actor might have tried (and likely failed) to make Holmes a likable character, like the kind we’re used to seeing. Seyfried doesn’t do that, though. She just makes you feel. In some scenes, as Holmes continues on her path despite all the warning signs that she’s harming people, she makes you angry. In others, like when you learn about her college assault in Episode 1, “I’m In a Hurry,” you empathize because no one should have to experience that. Then you’re upset with her all over again because she actively pursues her Theranos dream, knowing that the technology doesn’t work.
Lawrence’s Bad Blood would have been compelling. She’s shown her dramatic range in more than a few movies, from the action-packed The Hunger Games franchise to the emotional Die My Love and Silver Linings Playbook. But, as she suggested, what else could another actor really bring to the table here? While Seyfried has starred in pretty much every kind of film out there, and she’s always impressive, she’s the most captivating in The Dropout. She brings a frustrating and heartbreaking true story to life as no one else could have.
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