By Valerie Milano
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 3/19/22 – AppleTV+ finally dropped its highly anticipated ‘Wecrashed’. In seeming slow motion, it breaks down the formidable meltdown of Wework, the shared workspace giant that made public figures Adam and Rebekah Neumann billionaires.
But those first three episodes weren’t exactly what we were expecting. They delved into a shockingly inspiring love story between ‘serial entrepreneur Adam (played by Jared Leto) and devoted Yogi Rebekah (Anne Hathaway).
In other words, the series makes the disgraced couple appear to be relatable, likable, and even sympathetic.
In a panel held during the Television Critics Association’s 2022 Virtual Press Tour, Hathaway said that was on purpose.
“Much of what we aspired to do with this was to present a story as fairly as possible and to not assume the worst of people,” Hathaway told the audience. “And to explain that just because people do think that we might disagree with doesn’t automatically make them bad.”
Hathaway’s character is an integral part of the Wework story; in every aspect. “Rivkah,” as Adam affectionately calls her throughout, stands by him so devotedly that it almost feels as if she has manifested that success for him. Her belief that it’s her calling in life to do so also ultimately gets her in trouble with the company’s ultra-aware millennials. Still, she doesn’t back down. And there’s power in that; flawed power, but power nonetheless.
Hathaway’s performance is nothing less than remarkable. Rebekah Paltrow (maiden name), it turns out, is indeed the cousin of Gwyneth Paltrow. Painfully, Rebekah’s passion is the same as her celebrated cousin. But her love of the art doesn’t take her anywhere. Ultimately, it’s her husband’s doing that propelled her to international fame. Hathaway took the job of portraying every aspect of Neumann very seriously. And it shows.
“I thought it was very important to get the full picture of who she is because at the end of the day, I’m just playing a human being,” Hathaway said. “I’m just a human being playing a human being. And I was very excited to find out that Lee and Drew wanted to tell a more full, complex story of someone who, like all of us, is really complicated.”
As for Leto’s portrayal of Adam, it’s an awards-worthy revelation. His madness, his screwball quirkiness, and his intensity are all there; nothing held back. “Adam set out to build something that he was proud of, something that he believed in,” Leto told the media at the TCA Virtual Tour. But further, Leto thinks there’s something of the ubiquitous ‘American Dream’ that also defines Adam Neumann’s story.
“I think that he set his sights on a pretty impossible goal and achieved something pretty remarkable,” Leto continued. “I love that this story is the story of an immigrant who comes to this country and really wrestles his dreams into reality. I think that’s a pretty fascinating thing, as well.”
In any case, “Wecrashed” is as compulsively watchable as it is beautifully, and compassionately, filmed. And let’s face it: no matter how much dignity the production gives to the Neumann’s, or anyone else’s story, we’re a country of voyeurs. And “Wecrashed” is fully worth peeking in on for a few hours of sheer, jaw-dropping entertainment.