The showrunners of Apple TV’s new series WeCrashed say they found it “weirder” to call Jared Leto by his real name than to address him as his character after filming had wrapped.
The Oscar-winning actor plays eccentric Israeli businessman Adam Neumann in the show, which follows the rise and fall of global coworking enterprise WeWork.
Lee Eisenberg and Drew Crevello said they felt they had “spent more time with Adam than we had Jared” but that it was “comforting” to know actors took projects as seriously as they did.
Speaking at the global premiere of WeCrashed in Los Angeles on Thursday, Eisenberg said they had had multiple conversations with Leto prior to filming.
“Then one day he came on set and he was Adam Neumann, we called him Adam for the next four or five months,” he told the PA news agency.
“We addressed him as Adam, and then one day we wrapped the show and started talking to our friend Jared again.
“We had spent more time with Adam than we had with Jared.”
Crevello added: “It was so immersive that we came to see him as Adam.
“When we wrapped it was weirder to call him Jared than it had been to call him Adam… that was the weird transition, not the other way.”
Crevello said he felt “lucky” to work with people who were “1000%” committed to the project.
“It’s comforting knowing the actors are taking it just as seriously as you are. You feel like the scripts and the production are in good hands,” he said.
“To work with people that are 1000% committed to the work, you should be so lucky to do that once in your career.”
Director John Requa later added: “He came into the room and I was like ‘who is that guy, oh that’s Jared Leto, that’s the guy I’ve been working with for six months.’”
WeCrashed also stars Anne Hathaway and is available to stream on Apple TV.