Joseph Gordon-Levitt is set to play Uber CEO Travis Kalanick in Showtime's new anthology series Super Pumped, the network announced Monday.
The first season of the show will be basedon Mike Isaac’s bestselling book Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which chronicled everything from Kalanick's impressive rise in the tech industry to his ignominous exit from the company following a boardroom coup. Uber embodied the highs and lows of Silicon Valley, where the upstart transportation company stood out as both a marvel and a cautionary tale, as Kalanick foughtinternal and external battles that had unpredictable consequences.
Super Pumped is the first installment of an anthology series that will explore different stories that rocked the business world to its core each season.The series hails from Billions duoBrian Koppelman and David Levien as well as Beth Schacter, all three of whom will write, executive produce and serve as showrunners on the series. Paul Schiff, Stephen Schiff and Allyce Ozarski will also executive produce, while Isaac will serve as a co-executive producer on the project. Showtime will produce the anthology series, which falls under Koppelman and Levien's overall deal with the network.
“Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a remarkably intelligent and charismatic actor, embodying charm with an unpredictable edge. We are beyond excited to see what he will bring to the role of Travis Kalanick, the hyper-brilliant and controversial CEO whose ambition and reckless drive threatened the very enterprise he was determined to build," Showtime's Amy Israel said in a statement. "We are equally thrilled to be partnering on another series with Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Beth Schacter, who always deliver provocative and deeply entertaining shows that drive cultural conversation.”
Gordon-Levitt has been busy following a somewhat dormant period during which time he was focused on his family. He recently appeared in Netflix's Best Picture nominee The Trial of the Chicago 7 as well as the streamer's Project Power and Amazon's heart-pounding thriller 7500. Up next for Gordon-Levitt is Apple's half-hour dramedy series Mr.Corman, which he also created and directs. He's also playing Jiminy Cricket in Disney's new Pinocchio movie from Robert Zemeckis, who directed him in The Walk. I think Gordon-Levitt is an electric actor who has simply been stuck waiting for a high-profile part like this to come along, so I can't say his take on Kalanick and the show's perspective on the company's culture.