The darkish facet of disruption. The brand new Apple TV+ collection WeCrashed is a fictionalized tackle the downfall of WeWork — and Adam Neumann, the person behind the scenes.
Primarily based on David Brown‘s Wondery podcast “WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork,” the brand new collection stars Jared Leto because the cofounder of the startup and Anne Hathaway as his spouse, Rebekah Neumann.
Adam cofounded the enterprise with Miguel McKelvey in 2010, however WeWork actually began to make headlines in 2019 when it was compelled to postpone its IPO after journalists questioned the corporate’s means to grow to be worthwhile. By the tip of that yr, WeWork laid off 2,400 workers, or a complete of 20 p.c of its international workforce, and Adam stepped down as CEO.
Rebekah, who served as WeWork’s chief model and impression workplace till September 2019, wasn’t exempt from criticism both. In 2017, she based WeGrow, a non-public faculty in New York Metropolis, however two years later, the college introduced that it could shut its doorways on the finish of the tutorial yr.
Although the Neumanns drummed up their justifiable share of controversy, Hathaway mentioned that she approached the function of Rebekah with a judgment-free perspective.
“I respect that the world has sort of made up their minds about [Rebekah],” the Oscar winner informed Bustle in an interview revealed on Friday, March 18. “However what if I can come to this expertise with contemporary eyes? What if I choose her favorably? The tip end result continues to be the identical, however what if I [embrace] her good intentions? That opened up the character for me in a approach that felt very trustworthy and genuine.”
Leto, for his half, met with Adam earlier than taking part in him — and later steered that the businessman shouldn’t watch the present about his life. “He informed me to not,” Adam mentioned throughout a panel dialogue in November 2021. “When somebody tells you, ‘I’m going to behave you, and also you shouldn’t watch it.’ … What occurred on this planet that we are able to take an individual, look precisely like them, placed on prosthetics, put their spouse and children in a present after which do a present on a … single-sided narrative that I’m telling you shouldn’t be really true in a number of issues?”
The Princess Diaries actress had by no means heard of WeWork earlier than signing on for the present, however she spoke to acquaintances of Rebekah’s to get perception into her character. “Primarily based on the media angle on her, folks felt nearly compelled to guage her harshly,” she defined. “However then if you really have a look at the issues that she was saying, a number of them make sense. That doesn’t imply that the follow of them was good.”
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