ET has an exclusive clip from Friday’s premiere of ‘WeCrashed,’ the Apple TV+ drama about the rise and fall of WeWork.
Ahead of Friday’s premiere of WeCrashed, ET has an exclusive sneak peek of Jared Leto as eccentric WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann, who is at the center of the Apple TV+ limited series chronicling the rise and fall of the real estate tech startup once valued at $47 billion.
In the clip, Neumann is seen turning up the charm as he tries to make an early customer see the potential of what WeWork can be -- way before what it became during the height of his leadership at the company. “I want you to live your dreams and find yourself,” he says as his co-founder, Miguel McKelvey (Kyle Marvin), watches in the background.
While the scene is brief, it shows a glimpse of what Neumann was capable of: getting people to think big. And with every pitch and every sale, he was able to increase the ambition and scope of WeWork. That is, until it reached a breaking point when it was in the process of going from a private startup to a publicly traded company.
“He was a very compelling, charming person. A great salesperson, a great marketer and he had a vision, and he brought that vision to life,” Leto said of Neumann.
In order to capture the essence of that character in the eight-part series, which is adapted by creators and showrunners Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello from the Wondery podcast WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork, the Oscar winner went through great lengths to become his real-life counterpart.
As ET exclusively reported, that included a six-month-long, method transformation that involved the use of prosthetics by special effects makeup artist Kazu Hiro, extensive work on his Israeli accent and staying in character for the duration of filming.
“It was really immersive and it was incredible,” Marvin said of working with Leto, noting that on set, “we only talked to each other as characters, which was sort of an unreal experience.” In the end, “he just became Adam Neumann,” Eisenberg added.
And for the actor, it was time well spent. “For me, I feel like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really examine a really fascinating character, someone who is larger than life,” Leto shared. “And I’m really happy that I had this chance.”
The first three episodes of WeCrashed will premiere March 18 on Apple TV+ with new episodes debuting each Friday through April 22.
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