On March 18, HBO dropped The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley, a new documentary by Alex Gibney that tells the story of Stanford dropout-turned-scammer Elizabeth Holmes. The entrepreneur claimed her company Theranos had created a diagnostic method that required just the smallest drop of blood. But, spoiler! Theranos' "technological breakthrough" was a total sham, and Holmes a fraud in black turtleneck.
The twisted tale of how Holmes conned many a Silicon Valley investor and made her way to the top of Forbes' list of 50 Richest Self-Made Women is fascinating on its own: In addition to the HBO documentary, Holmes is also the subject of podcast The Dropout and the nonfiction book Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. However, many who watched the documentary — which featured ample footage of Holmes — are as captivated by Holmes' general persona as they are the scam.
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Holmes is quite the character. She wears all black, seemingly lifting her turtleneck of choice from tech icon Steve Jobs. She rarely blinks. She also speaks in a low tone that has caused many to question whether she's using her authentic voice.
Naturally, Holmes is quite imitable...which is why, upon watching the HBO documentary, many people did their best to impersonate her.
Busy Philipps tried on her best Holmes voice on Busy Tonight. Check it out at the 0:54 second mark.
Tavi Gevinson gets extra credit for her impression by layering on Holmes' signature makeup look. (Lots of heavy eyeliner.)
??? pic.twitter.com/N57yAk7pr9
— Tavi Gevinson (@tavitulle) March 20, 2019
Reductress writer and comedian Ingrid Ostby also reenacted Holmes' decision to try on a baritone voice for size. ("Get it together, Liz!")
here’s some footage they left out of the inventor HBO doc about how Elizabeth Holmes adopted her now-infamous proven-fake voice pic.twitter.com/l8nPhhYCoP
— Ingrid Ostby (@ingridostby) March 19, 2019
Others tried on the voice for size to see if it could advance their own tech company careers.
*elizabeth holmes voice* pic.twitter.com/UIAqUpbbd2
— Nina Sapers (@joandidion) March 20, 2019
My thoughts on the Elizabeth Holmes doc: pic.twitter.com/Q965WamT98
— Queen Messertiti (@ariel_comedy) March 20, 2019
Please enjoy my perfect impression of Elizabeth Holmes #TheInventor #Theranos pic.twitter.com/pX1IhFT6zR
— Jacob (@aesopslut) March 19, 2019
As for who will impersonate Holmes on the big screen, we already know the answer. Jennifer Lawrence is set to portray the Theranos founder in a film adaptation of Bad Blood. Let's hope the film has a great dialect coach.
This post has been updated.