Joseph Gordon-Levitt—the Hall & Oates-loving leading man from (500) Days of Summer (2009) and the kid who would have been Robin (if only he’d had the chance) in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)—is always a good choice when Hollywood wants a good guy. He’s also obviously pretty good at playing absolute jerks. According to Variety, Gordon-Levitt has just been cast in the new Showtime series Super Pumped as Uber co-founder and former CEO Travis Kalanick, a self-described “terrible person.”
Super Pumped’s plans have changed somewhat over the last two years since they were first revealed in 2019. The first season will concentrate on Kalanick’s meteoric rise and fall with the rideshare app, which ended with him resigning from the Uber board of directors under investor pressure.
The first season of Super Pumped is based on Mike Isaac’s novel, Super Pumped: The Fight for Uber. Along with Beth Schacter, co-creators of Billions Brian Koppelman and David Levien will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunners for the project.
“Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a remarkably intelligent and charismatic actor, embodying charm with an unpredictable edge,” Amy Israel, Showtime’s executive VP of scripted programming, said of the casting. “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.”
