Back in 2019, when the world made sense, millions of people on Reddit didn’t manipulate short-sellers into overvaluing stocks and driving rich hedge fund managers insane. Our society simply let those in charge of companies go insane, letting infusions of money from venture capital wildly inflate the value of those companies until it all blew up and lives were ruined. But, you know, not their own.
It made for a good story and, in the case of Adam Neumann’s WeWork, it made for a good podcast. And Apple TV hopes it will make for a good show that we now know Jared Leto is involved in, as The Hollywood Reporter said Friday that the top billing for Apple’s WeCrashed-based show is set. Leto will star as WeWork’s eccentric CEO, while Anne Hathaway will play his wife, Rebekah. According to the report, the two will also serve as executive producers on the show.
The eight-episode drama will follow the greed-filled rise and inevitable fall of start-up WeWork and the narcissists whose chaotic love made it all possible. Leto will play WeWork founder Adam Neumann, with Hathaway set to play his wife and co-founder Rebekah Newmann. Both stars will also be credited as exec producers on the show. (A premiere time frame has not yet been determined.)
Eisenberg, who has an overall deal with Apple, will co-write, exec produce and serve as showrunner alongside Crevello. Wondery will exec produce. Charlie Gogolak, a partner with Ficarra and Requa in Zaftig Films, will exec produce. Natalie Sandy, Eisenberg’s vp development at Piece of Work Entertainment, also exec produces. Leto’s Paradox partner Emmy Ludbrook also exec produces.
Leto in the role of Adam Neumann is certainly inspired, and Hathaway has the range to pull off Rebekah, who was involved in various ways as WeWork expanded into creating a school and other business endeavors. We know that Leto often gets very much into the heads of his characters, but there’s no word here on whether he will try to smuggle a large amount of weed into Israel in a cereal box to get in the right headspace here.
But it’s not the only WeWork TV show currently in the works, as Cousin Greg from Succession will also play Neumann in a show based on a book about WeWork that’s being made for TV by You’re The Worst creator Stephen Falk. If that sounds like too much WeWork to you, well, now you get their business model I suppose. We’ll eventually get to see who wins the WeWork bake-off in due time, but both shows certainly have gotten the vibe right when it comes to casting.