Adam Neumann (Jared Leto) tries to convince his wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), that WeWork will work in the new Apple TV+ limited series “WeCrashed.”
“It’s not what you can see. It’s who can see you.”
That’s the mantra repeated by Adam Neumann, one of the main characters in a limited drama series upcoming on Apple TV+.
“WeCrashed,” premiering Friday, March 18, tells the true story of WeWork, a coworking startup founded by Israeli immigrant Neumann (Jared Leto) and his struggling actress wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), in 2010. Its concept was simple and very progressive — to provide common work spaces where tech entrepreneurs could develop their ideas among like-minded individuals and possibly find business partners and even life mates. And a whole lot of synergy.
The trouble was the company had next-to-no assets, not a great look for a real estate-related startup and a fact that uber salesman Adam danced around with the deftness of a ballerina to potential investors. But within a decade, the company grew to a valuation of over $47 billion, then shed most of that within the space of a year. And behind it all were the Neumanns, whose eccentric love story is at the center of the story.
Apple TV+’s limited series “WeCrashed” follows the true story of Adam Neumann (Jared Leto) and the rise and fall of his company WeWork. It premieres Friday, March 18. – Courtesy of Apple TV+
The series comes from showrunners Lee Eisenberg (“Little America”) and Drew Crevello and is based on the Wondery podcast “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork.” In addition to Leto and Hathaway (who are also executive producers), the cast also includes Kyle Marvin, America Ferrera and Anthony Edwards.
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Hathaway, who was unfamiliar with the story coming in, didn’t have access to the real Rebekah, but she says she devoured everything she could about her, including the podcast and talking to those who knew her. The Academy Award winner wound up coming away with a favorable impression.
“These are people who had very sincere intentions,” the actress says. “I really think they wanted to make the world a better place. How they executed that is a lot more complicated, but I do think they were people who — certainly in my character’s case, who really looked at the world and was trying to leave it better than she found it.”
Leto, who also had little prior knowledge of the story, says he felt the same way about Adam.
“I think that he set his sights on a pretty impossible goal and achieved something pretty remarkable,” the Oscar-winning actor explains. “I love that this story is the story of an immigrant who comes to this country and really wrestles his dreams into reality. … To create something meaningful and share it with the world is a really beautiful thing.”
