With an assist from the filmmaker, the ‘Super Pumped’ and ‘Billions’ showrunners found a new speed for their ambitiously disruptive tech-industry anthology.
While the world of Silicon Valley tech startups can be bowelless , it ’s not exactly aQuentin Tarantino - style bloodbath . But when the author behind Showtime’sSuper Pumpedfirst sit down down to adaptNew York Timesreporter Mike Isaac ’s 2019 al-Qur’an about the rise and fall of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick , they speedily realized they needed some pulp magazine to go with their non - fiction . Played with perma - smirk personal appeal by Joseph Gordon - Levitt , Kalanick antagonize the taxi cab industry , torture his competitors , and tucker out his own employees . To tell a story of a rule - surf , Super Pumpedneeded to break some rule . " We said , ' These citizenry are disruptors so why do n’t we be as disruptive as we want stylistically ? ' " remembers co - creator David Levien .
That maximalist approaching encompasses voiceover narration from the genre - blendingOnce Upon a Time … in Hollywoodauteur , fourth - bulwark breaking monologues from cast members , aggressive on - covert graphics , TV game - parodying entr’acte , and a apparently dateless amount of Pearl Jam songs . On a filmmaking level , it ’s observably dissimilar from the comparatively restrained formal style ofBillions , the long - running Showtime series about New York City hedge monetary fund mavericks Levien co - create with Koppelman andTimescolumnist Andrew Ross Sorkin . ( In addition to doer like Kyle Chandler , Uma Thurman , Hank Azaria , and Fred Armisen , Super Pumpedalso boasts a act of familiar faces from theBillions - rhyme . ) With Beth Schacter , an executive producer onBillions , Koppelman and Levien used every creature in their creative tool cabinet in makingSuper Pumped . The rhythmically accurate speedy - fire dialogue ofBillionsis still present — along with the hyper - specific daddy culture references — but the trio also introduced some unexampled instruments into the mix .
" A lot of fourth dimension what we talk about in the writer room is the idea that we ’re prosecuting an estimation , " explained Schacter . " We ’re prosecute the filmmaking style and necessitate , ' Are we making this the fullest translation of itself so you ’re feel all the momentum of Uber coming into being ? ' "
Showtime
Taking a prison-breaking from working onBillionsand thealready announced second seasonofSuper pump , which will again sop up on Isaac ’s coverage to focalise on the rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook , Levien and Schacter hopped on Zoom to bet under the hood ofSuper Pumped , breaking down the story , the Wii - inspired gambling sequence , and grunge - heavy soundtrack .
How Quentin Tarantino ended up as the narrator
When the voice of Quentin Tarantino pops up on the soundtrack in the first episode ofSuper Pumped , you might not realize who it is . The author - director ( and occasional actor ) has a recognizable voice , one he used to recount his own westernThe Hateful Eight , but it ’s not the first one you might associate with the Silicon Valley excesses of Uber . But , harmonize to Levien , the Tarantino idea was floated by Koppelman early on in the process after they decided there should be a teller — and once they had his distinct quality in their foreland , they had to make it happen .
Having bang Tarantino for a short while , Koppelman fired off an email to the movie maker , who also happens to be aBillionsfan , asking if he would seem onan episodeof his podcastThe Momentto advance the novelisation ofOnce Upon a Time … in Hollywoodand to see if he would do the narration . He speedily said yes . " Brian was like , ' You eff you did say yes to both things , right ? Not just some minute - prospicient podcast , " says Levien . " And he was like , ' Yeah , I get it , I sleep together what I say yes to , man . ' "
Getting Tarantino in the booth did put a certain amount of air pressure on the writer to raise the bar on the narration . " A day before the first session got booked we were like , ' Wait a minute , he ’s gon na fare read this shit , it better poppin ' , ' " says Levien . " The yarn pages started fly back and forth between Beth and Brian and me . ' This well be entertaining for him . ' "
Director Quentin Tarantino, the narrator of ‘Super Pumped’|Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
as luck would have it , Tarantino did n’t have any notes about the scripts . He was just looking to have fun and deliver exactly what the writers were looking for . " He ’s so amenable , " said Schacter . " He ’s such a pro . He was like , ' How do I make this with child for you guys ? ' The only feedback he had was about the firing in the John Wilkes Booth . "
On a meta - spirit level , Tarantino ’s comportment also connects the show to his trend of filmmaking , a eccentric of protection Koppelman has pointed out in interviews advertise the show . " When you talk about using picture techniques , it was Quentin who broke these rules of filmmaking in America , " he toldEntertainment Weekly . Plus , it ’s not hard to imagine aPulp FictionorReservoir Dogsposter on Kalanick ’s dorm elbow room rampart in college .
Why certain scenes look like video games
Where the flush elite ofBillionsmight meet across a poker game table , the Silicon Valley schemers ofSuper Pumpedare more likely to relax over a secret plan of Wii Tennis , a biz Kalanickonce claimedto hold the second - gamy sexual conquest in the humankind for . So , it makes horse sense that the writers would incorporate a short gameplay into their story , using aGrand Theft Auto - similar sequence to dramatize Uber ’s quest to curb city across America in its other years . The specifics of the creation prescribe the cast it takes .
The idea come from the desire to constantly raise the stake of the stuff so the viewer finger each post is as life sentence - or - last as the characters do . In one aspect , a tense showdown in a boardroom mystify made up withStreet Fightergraphics . " We were like , ' It ’s not going to be wearisome . It ’s fit to be likeStreet Fighter , ' " says Levien . " This is a decease battle royale for these people in this cosmos . We have to try out to personify that . "
The video game sequences are n’t the only examples of the writer using animation and special gist to kettle of fish with the texture of what you see on screen . At fundamental decimal point , Kalanick ’s lies are often give via dark-green screen , building to an intense interrogation - like succession in Episode 5 where the CEO ’s persuasion appear as a fall - down fare behind him during a showdown with Apple CEO Tim Cook ( Azaria ) . As Kalanick begin to crack under the press , the screen behind him flickers and malfunctions .
Showtime
For the writers , these moments acknowledging the ruse and breaking the fourth are n’t just aesthetic flourishes . They ’re not sample to be clever or look cool . Instead , the choices attempt to reflect the psychology of the eccentric . " Part of the reason it works is that the staging underneath it has real emotional deepness , " says Schacter . " I think that ’s unfeigned of almost all of the things that feel tumultuous in the show . They come from existent emotional undergirding . "
What’s up with all the Pearl Jam songs?
Depending on your feelings about Eddie Vedder , when you first take heed " Even Flow " in the first installment ofSuper Pumpedyour chemical reaction will likely be , " Ah , skillful ! A Pearl Jam song ! " or " Really , these guys ? " Then another one pops up . And another . finally , you start to realize that every episode has at least one Pearl Jam track playing in it , providing an anthemic backcloth to Kalanick ’s trial and tribulation , and it becomes unclouded that there has to be some big system of logic at play . Seriously , why Pearl Jam ?
If you ’ve seenBillions , a show lace up with surprising acerate leaf drops , it ’s no surprisal to larn that Levien and Schacter are fans of Pearl Jam . But the song selection also connects to the culture of Uber . " For some reason , a big part of the Pearl Jam fanbase is a little bro - y , or it was back in the day , " enjoin Levien . " But Eddie is like this priest-doctor and he ’s often not say what it sounds like he ’s state in the song . That short mistaking was very entertaining to us . "
Schacter agree , noting that the potential for tonal disagreement was part of the appeal . " Much like Rage Against the Machine , there ’s a sure segment of the fanbase that misses what ’s in reality happening in the song , and something about that matte up really right , " she tell . " But also it felt like that music could have been pound out of any of their iPods or iPhones at any given moment . That would be on their play list . "
Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam|Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
For Schacter , get those particular in good order is the most essential part of the operation . " I think as writer we ’re always bet for ways to wade really deep into cultures that are specific like this , " she say . " I guess I would say that bothBillionsandSuper Pumpedlive in very specific cultures , but the culture themselves are different , and the nuance and the subtlety really matter . "
