Netflix US has acquired the rights to show the popular Showtime series Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, the biopic based on Mike Isaac’s novel of the same name.
Created by Brian Koppelman (co-writer of Ocean’s Thirteen) and David Levien (co-creator of Billions), the show featured Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Travis Kalanick, the CEO of the mammoth taxi service Uber.
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber first aired on Showtime in February 2022, and was hosted by the streaming site Paramount+. However, following a whole slate of shows that were axed from the service in order to save costs, US-based Netflix subscribers will soon be able to enjoy the show.
In the previous decade, Netflix showcased a whole host of Showtime content with shows like the previous decade, Netflix showcased a whole host of Showtime content with shows like Dexter, Episodes, The L Word, Weeds and the hugely popular US adaptation of Shameless all appearing on the streaming giant’s library.
More recently, however, little of Showtime’s newer programming has been featured on Netflix, save for the Donald Trump/FBI miniseries The Comey Rule, and Showtime Networks’ Ripley, which will be exclusively released by Netflix globally.
On top of Gordon-Levitt, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber also boasts a stellar cast including Kyle Chandler, Elisabeth Shue, Babak Tafti, Kerry Bishé – as well as the voice of auteur director Quentin Tarantino providing regular narration.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Koppelman explained how they got the director on board. “One of us just said, ‘And then we’ll have Quentin Tarantino’s voice appear, and Quentin Tarantino’s voice will tell this part of the story. And suddenly, it just made sense that that’s what we needed. It was an incredible long shot, of course, but I asked him to do it, and he said yes.”
