‘I Didn’t Know They Had Gone That Far,’ Says Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Star of SHOWTIME’s SUPER PUMPED: THE BATTLE FOR UBER

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Joseph Gordon-Levitt was asked if he has any intriguing personal stories about Uber, the ride-sharing service that changed the world. “No man, honestly – I mean, I don’t do it these days, we’re living in a plague,” he said. “Sorry, I wish I had a better answer for you.” Gordon-Levitt may not have any recent personal tales to tell due to the pandemic, but professionally he’s telling the biggest Uber story of them all, with the debut of SHOWTIME’s SUPER PUMPED: THE BATTLE FOR UBER. Featuring Gordon-Levitt as former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Kyle Chandler as venture capitalist Bill Gurley, and Uma Thurman as Arianna Huffington, with narration by Quentin Tarantino, the series debuts Sunday, Feb. 27 on Crave. SUPER PUMPED: THE BATTLE FOR UBER is a rise-and-fall tale, following Kalanick as he wills Uber into prominence through the sheer force of his personality and commitment. But eventually he loses control of his own creation due to hubris, and decisions that were unethical at best, and illegal at worst. Audiences savour these kinds of arcs, where success is followed by come-uppance – is there something wrong with people for loving these stories so much? “I definitely think there’s something wrong with us,” Gordon-Levitt agreed with a chuckle during a virtual roundtable interview. “We have our animal, primal parts of ourselves, and then we have the cerebral cortex, our logic, our reason, things like that. The human condition is sort of a constant battle between these two things, and I think Travis is a fascinating example. He’s someone who indulges, so hard, that primal urge to just take what you want, and win at all costs, and to hell with everybody else. As an actor, it’s fun to indulge that primal urge, and also why it’s fun as an audience to watch it.” Gordon-Levitt didn’t speak with the real Kalanick prior to taking on the role, but he spoke with many people who know Kalanick, and he said it gave him a wider perspective than what has been depicted in the media. While Gordon-Levitt never wants to judge the humanity of anyone he portrays – Kalanick included – judging actions is fair game. “One of the things I was most surprised by, and this came from the book (by New York Times journalist Mike Isaac), was that Uber was actually breaking the law at a grand scale,” Gordon-Levitt said. “I knew, ‘oh, it grew fast, maybe there was something questionable going on behind the scenes.’ But they took laws and would say, ‘we’re not going to obey those, and we’re going to avoid law enforcement, and we’re going to build software to help us avoid law enforcement.’ SUPER PUMPED is a crime story in a way. I didn’t know they had gone that far.” Ultimately, though, Gordon-Levitt believes that while the series is specifically about Uber, it’s not only about Uber. “This is the upside and downside of drastic, fast-moving innovations,” he said. “Uber was breaking the laws systemically, and those laws are in place to protect labour, and consumers. Not all laws are perfect, and there definitely is corruption in government. But it’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater if you just say, ‘oh, well, laws don’t apply to us, we shouldn’t have laws.’ But we also should be taking a good hard look at businesses like Uber that prioritize profits over everything. It’s easy to indict Travis Kalanick and Uber, but the game they were playing – maximizing shareholder value – is what all our entrepreneurs and businesses are tasked with doing. Travis played that game as well as just about anybody in history. But he didn’t make up the game. He was just playing it.” SUPER PUMPED is an anthology series, exploring stories that rocked the business world. It has already been renewed for Season 2, which will focus on Facebook. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv