'WeCrashed' star Jared Leto talks about meeting the WeWork founder and more

Wecrashed Apple Tv Plus artwork
Wecrashed Apple Tv Plus artwork (Image credit: Apple TV+)

What you need to know

  • WeCrashed star Jared Leto has been speaking about playing WeWork founder Adam Neumann in the Apple TV+ show.
  • Leto wanted to speak with Nuemann but didn't tell the Apple TV+ team he was going to do it.

Jared Leto, star of Apple TV+ show WeCrashed, has been talking about playing WeWork founder Adam Neumann and meeting the man himself to try to "find some empathy" for the role.

Leto plays the role of Adam Neumann in the Apple TV+ show that tells the story of WeWork, a company that was built from nothing and at one point had a $47 billion valuation. But it all came crumbling down, making the WeCrashed story one of the most compelling on Apple TV+ to date. But Leto tells Variety that he wanted to get a feel for who Neumann was before setting about playing him on TV. But he didn't want to tell the Apple TV+ people the meeting was going to happen.

Leto said he didn't tell the production that he was meeting with them. "To be honest, I thought I would regret if I didn't. I wanted to look in his eyes," he notes. "Sometimes there's freedom in not knowing the person, not meeting the person and, and other times, it can be informative to meet them. I think also, regardless of people's success or failure, it's my job to find some empathy. That's my job as an actor, is to try to find some understanding – that doesn't mean that you agree with everything that a character does, but it's certainly to find some understanding some motivation of you know, why they made the choices in life that they did."

Leto plays opposite Anne Hathaway, who had the job of taking on the role of Neumann's wife and business partner. On Hathaway, Leto says she is "a classic actor, a real craftsperson" while suggesting that the chemistry the pair have on-screen is all down to her.

Much has been made of Leto and Hathaway's chemistry in playing a couple in a relationship that might be considered toxic, but viewers never doubt their passion for one another. Again, Leto sings defers to his co-star's talent, saying: "Look, when you have someone who's as great at Annie, I think she would probably have chemistry with a doorknob."

The WeCrashed show is based on the Wondery podcast of the same name and fans should definitely check out the Apple TV+ show. They'll need an Apple TV+ subscription, but priced at just $4.99 per month, that's excellent value indeed.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.