Acting | Tremendous

We walked through the bowels of a large warehouse shrouded in darkness. I rounded a corner and shoved open a heavy door with no idea what was on the other side.

Suddenly, we were in the world headquarters of WeWork.

The famous startup led by Adam Neumann seemed to take over the world before it crashed just as quickly. And now, it had become a TV miniseries called WeCrashed.

I had the joy of being a background actor (also known as an extra) on episode 7 of this fascinating show! I played a Goldman Sachs investment banker, hard at work on winning WeWork’s business for its IPO.

Light poured in from above on the set of WeWork’s headquarters, which nailed the company’s funky aesthetic. Concrete columns framed long sofas in bright colors.

I even got to see the famous WeWork gong! Unfortunately, I was not allowed to ring it.

We filmed a scene where a senior Goldman banker tried to impress Neumann by quoting Bob Marley. I had to look like the serious banker, but it was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

Then, Jared Leto made his entrance.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to be him; everyone staring at you, knowing who you are, without you knowing anything about them. I gushed to my fellow extras about what a great actor Leto is, and he nodded to us politely as he passed.

What came next is the best acting I’ve ever seen in person.

Leto was rejecting a proposal from a venerable Wall Street bank, and went through his scene again and again. He delivered the same lines with every possible combination of intonation and inflection, one right after the other, until he determined which was right.

Far away, I quietly remarked to one of the other extras that Leto’s accent sounded a bit heavy. Just minutes later, I noticed he had corrected it.

In between takes, he went into a small room with an assistant to prepare for his next scene. I felt a little sorry for him…we could laugh, joke, and make new friends when we weren’t busy, but he could not.

The crew’s attention to detail amazed me.

At one point, they gave us iPads as props. On the screen was a copy of WeWork’s actual S-1.

In other scenes, we had to use our imagination.

At the Goldman offices watching Neumann announce the IPO, we were actually looking at a green screen. The TV broadcast was added later in post-production.

Filming WeCrashed was a wonderful time! I got to be a small part of a story that fascinates me and see one of my favorite actors at his best!

If you haven’t seen the show, I encourage you to check it out! Leto plays the charismatic, out of control Neumann with uncanny accuracy.

And if I may say so, my big bald head adds a little something too! 🙂

More on Fundrise in this post.

If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

Misfits Market

I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order.

We all know The Sopranos is the greatest television show of all time. And yes, I’m a little obsessed. So when I had the opportunity to the attend Sopranoscon on Saturday in Atlantic City, NJ, I had to do it!

The best part about the convention was seeing the show come to life right in front of me. There were the characters I loved, just a few feet away! I even got to sit in Tony’s seat in his Cadillac Escalade. The car that’s pumped full of bullet holes in the final season as Patsy and Sil desperately try to escape New York’s hitmen was there too!

One of the biggest highlights of the day was the costume contest: the winner did a perfect impression of Sil’s “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” I haven’t smiled as wide in a long time.

A very convincing Tony Soprano look-a-like who was actually a stand-in for Gandolfini in the series, bookable here!

Since this was Mobmoviecon in addition to Sopranoscon, there were actors from other gangster classics. One of my favorites was Armand Assante, who played a pitch perfect John Gotti in the 1996 HBO movie. Since I’ve done some extremely minor acting myself, I had to ask him: what makes a great actor?

Armand Assante, interviewed by real-life former gangster Michael Franzese

“Will,” he told me. Like when a baseball player says “I’m going to hit this out of the park,” an actor has to will himself to deliver a great performance, whatever it takes. When we connect our will to our talent and imagination, we can become great actors, Assante added.

The convention also had a major announcement: there will be a Gotti 2, starring Assante, and production is beginning now!

You’re at the precipice of an enormous crossroads.

To top it off, I took second place in The Sopranos trivia competition! The prize: a signed copy of a fascinating book about the series written by another big fan!

About the only negative of the convention is that you have to pay $20-40 extra to meet any of the actors or get a picture/autograph. But this may be the only way to make the economics work: paying dozens of high profile actors and renting out a major resort isn’t cheap! Perhaps in the future, they can host a mixer for everyone to allow more interaction.

The organizer of the convention, Michael Mota, has huge plans for the future: not only is he producing Gotti 2, he hopes to buy Tony Soprano’s house and turn it into an Airbnb for fans of the series. If he does, I’d love to visit!

Tremendous

Tag Archives: Acting

Behind the Scenes of WeCrashed

At the Sopranos Convention! (Part 2)

An angel investor's take on life and business