In the entertainment world, original ideas are hard to come by. You can hardly attribute writers / producers / big shot executors to relying on real life stories – often the truth is more bizarre than fiction, especially when it comes to the love of Anna Delvey (as portrayed on Netflix) Invented Anna) and “Tiger King” Joe Exotic (currently fictionalized by Peacock’s Joe vs. Carole).
But these series are often based on another source – a book or a documentary or a podcast – which has already made the most of the heavy lifting when it comes to research, and derived the resulting dramas.
WeCrashedApple TV +’s new series is based on the Wondery Podcast of the same name, The Trend.
It tells the story of the epic rise and near fall of WeWork, the global co-work empire created by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in 2010.
Visionary Neumann, played here by Jared Leto, was largely responsible for the company’s success, but also for his many, many hiccups, due to his tenacious and unwavering desire to become a billionaire (a dream he has since achieved, the real Neumann is a valuable. estimated $ 1.4 billion).
Nine years later, in a move that shocked the business world, he would be fired as CEO due to his capricious behavior and drug use, which came to an endless head in a particularly hedonistic week.
The first three episodes (of eight) launch us back in time to the early days of WeWork, as Neumann predicted how the world of work was going to change before it actually did. He dreamed of tables next to ping-pong tables, next to free bars, next to breakout areas where members could meet their new partners, both business and romantic.
It sounds like running now, but in the late Noughties it was revolutionary and Neumann struggled to secure funding and find office space that was not moldy.
You might think that a drama about starting a company is not that interesting – and you were right – but Leto’s nephew, with his bare feet, draws Israeli accents and irresistible (no matter how hard you try) charm, makes you Planning meetings and construction tours shine. It’s a career highlight for Leto, who says something for a man with an Oscar.
But it’s the love story behind the business that really drives the series forward. Anne Hathaway is Rebekah Neumann (née Paltrow, cousin of Gwyneth, sentenced to live forever in her shadow), a powerful woman with no clear path in life – she wants to be a yogi, then an actor, then an entrepreneur yourself.
When she meets Adam, she resists his tireless romantic gestures, only giving up when he calls on her boss to not pay her enough. In flashes to the day Adam is taken away, she is cold and dominant towards her husband, and even in the early days, Hathaway plays Rebekah with an underground sharpness that makes her so much more than just “the woman.” Her chemistry with Leto is more than electric, it’s very believable.
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Sometimes, WeCrashed is inevitably cheesy, adopting WeWork’s live, laugh, love approach to office life (think neon signs, mugs and t-shirts that read “Do What You Love”). We are forced to see the world through the eyes of Neumann, where everything and everyone is an opportunity to make money, and statements like “Come build with us tomorrow, we will change the world” are normal business meetings.
Only in the third episode do the cracks start, and the series starts to get really interesting.
At a weekend-long “summer camp,” we finally hear from someone other than Neumann, as his co-workers (well, the women) express their concerns about the bureaucracy of drinking, shadows, and unpaid overtime to Rebekah, who tries. to fight a PR disaster.
Anyone who has worked in a toxic start-up can empathize. Neumann, meanwhile, starts taking more and more drugs, ignoring the daily problems that his growing empire creates.
As such, WeCrashed is not only a compelling love story and portrait of a billionaire party boy, but also a fossilization of offices past. Before the pandemic, before “WFH”, work was a place for socialization, relaxation and in many cases to celebrate – WeWork took this to the extreme, all in the name of Neumann’s vision.
It may not have worked out for him in the end, and he’s certainly a legend in his own lunchtime – but he does make for ingenious television.
WeCrashed is now being streamed on Apple TV +. New episodes are released every Friday
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