Jared LetoThe commitment of is legendary. He took tens of kilos to play the killer of John Lennon (Chapter 27); injected water into his veins to understand the state of mind of a heroin addict (Requiem for a dream); and withered her 5’11” frame at 114 pounds to play a transgender woman dying of AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club, the heartbreaking performance that won him an Oscar. In his second life as the frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, he’s traveled the world enough to win a Guinness World Record, take on a major record label in a $30 million legal battle (which has since been settled ) and chronicled said company. in a documentary he directed (using a pseudonym of Dr. Seuss).
It’s not just the creative areas that Leto attacks with idiosyncratic verve. He is also a savvy Silicon Valley investor who got into Airbnb, Uber, Spotify and Slack early on, and who says he cold-calls tech start-ups in his search for new acquisitions.
This trifecta of interests and experience (plus intensity – always intensity) fit perfectly with his last role: to play Adam Neumann, the real-life WeWork founder with a rock star aura who built a $47 billion workspace sharing business only to be forced out as CEO. The series, We crashed, premieres Friday on Apple TV+, and Leto’s performance as the gripping Israeli entrepreneur might be the actor’s most total transformation since. Dallas Buyers Club.
“This period of my life, as you can see, I’m taking big swings,” Leto said in a phone conversation with Vanity Room. We crashed debuts nearly four months after the premiere of Gucci House, the operating set featuring Leto as Paolo Gucci, a flamboyant Italian decorated with prosthetics. Although the film polarized critics, no one could fault Leto’s commitment to his character; the actor retained Paolo’s accent and adornment on set. He even introduced himself to costar Al Pacino in the middle of Paolo’s hair and makeup, much to Pacino’s confusion.
Leto has been acting since 1994 My so called life, and doesn’t see the point of continuing if it isn’t constantly growing and exploring.
“I fought for these opportunities, and I really intend to break some things, even if it’s a glorious failure. It doesn’t matter. I would rather have a miserable failure and know that I took big risks rather than mumbling or whispering my way through a movie with a cool attitude,” he says.
In a wide conversation, the actor talks about his meeting with the real Adam Neumann, his We crashed romance with Anne Hathawaythe character, Rebecca Neumann, and confusion around his approach to acting.
Vanity Lounge: Given your own experience with Silicon Valley, I was surprised you hadn’t interacted with Adam Neumann before. We crashed.
Jared Leto: I had heard of the company and was really impressed with the product. But by the time I heard from them they were up and running and doing well. I have never invested, never met them or attempted to invest. But I knew people who did, and who knew him. So when I read the project, I had a bit of a realization. I thought it was just a fascinating story. It’s not too often you get the chance to examine this kind of quintessential immigrant story – the guy who comes to the United States and builds a business from scratch into a $47 billion empire. and a global brand.
You said you watched thousands of hours of footage of the real Adam to learn his mannerisms and speaking patterns. What other ways did you find this character?
I think if I hadn’t been on stages all over the world with 30 Seconds to Mars, and had some sort of deep understanding of what it’s like to communicate to people on those stages, I would have probably missed an element of my idea of who he was. He was good on this stage. He was a great communicator, and he had a bit of a rock star in him. So being in the band definitely helped that element.
But I just dove deep and educated myself in every way I could. I listened to the podcasts and read as much material as possible. I watched every interview. I got raw footage from interviews and studied the nuances. I spoke to everyone who spoke to me and who knew him, that is to say many, many people. And then I had a great team of Israelis who helped with the dialect and a lot of other things that were important to understand.
So understanding what it’s like to be on stage was crucial to your understanding of Adam. He clearly has a captivating presence and an ability to command attention, almost in a cult leader– like way. Can you articulate what it takes to be good at it?
At least from my point of view, it is really a question of communication. It’s about listening and having a conversation with a group of people, just as you would with one person. That’s a big part of it. Just being able to step over your fight or flight instincts, which is “shit,” to communicate what’s in my heart.
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