Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the "perfect smug prick" to portray former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick

Gizmodo

The news that Gordon-Levitt will star as the embattled former Uber CEO in Showtime's miniseries Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber from the creators of Billions is the case of an actor being perfect for the role, says Rhett Jones. "Your mileage may vary, but I think this is inspired casting," says Jones. "He looks a bit like Kalanick in the way that a Hollywood actor is capable of looking like an average person. And like the Uber founder, JGL is extremely annoying. It hasn’t always been this way, the guy can act. But his reach often exceeds his grasp." He adds: "Gordon-Levitt’s perfectly suited for the role because he’s a startup founder himself. Remember HitRecord? It was a website where JGL posted videos of himself kind of vlogging or something and he encouraged other people to post videos of themselves vlogging or something. Like Uber, it still exists whether anyone wants it or not. All that’s to say, I’m super pumped for this show. The Billions folks know how to write a corporate sleazeball as well as anyone and Gordon-Levitt will get under our skin in all the right ways."