Anne Hathaway, Jared Leto talk crafting performances in Apple TV’s “WeCrashed”

Noah Levine, Senior Film Columnist

“WeCrashed,” a new limited series from Apple TV+, chronicles the rise and fall of real estate company WeWork. The series stars Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway in the leading roles of CEO Adam Neumann and Rebekah Neumann, whose budding relationship serves as a backdrop to Neumann’s relentless pursuit of financial success. 

The Daily Texan attended the red carpet premiere of the show’s pilot episode, where Leto and Hathaway spoke about their work on the brand new series. 

 

The Daily Texan: I’m actually from Livingston, New Jersey, and you’re from Millburn originally right? 


Anne Hathaway: You were my mall! 

 

DT: Yeah, great place. It’s still standing. Just lost some of the cool stores. 

AH: Aw, okay.

DT: You’ve worked in a lot of different genres. How does genre influence the way you approach performances?

AH: That’s a great question. The director influences me more than the genre. I feel like I would love to make a horror movie.

DT: I love horror movies!

AH: I love horror movies too, and I feel like I haven’t made one of those yet. So that would be the main (genre) that is influencing me right now because I really want to find one. Since the beginning, I’ve always been a director-driven actor.

 

DT: You’ve had such a diverse and extensive career in all sorts of roles. Do you still feel challenged when taking on new films?
AH: Every time. Whatever you’ve done before, you may have learned things from it, but you are put to the test every single time. I was a leaf at the beginning of this one, just totally shaking. It wasn’t actually until Jared showed up as Adam and I saw what he was doing with this performance, heard the level of voice work he had done, that I felt like I dropped in and understood what we were making. I was so inspired by him, but I get nervous every single time. I think it’s because I like taking risks. You dream of it, and then you get on the highwire and go, “Oh my God I did it again! This is higher than I realized.” A lot of my actor friends always say “It’s always worth it.” 

 

DT: You’ve done a lot of impressive character work in your career. What’s your first step in diving into the life and persona of the characters you play?

Jared Leto: You start at the beginning. You start asking the who, what, why, when, where, how? You go on a journey to discover the spirit of who this person was.