Succession creator Jesse Armstrong is back with another darkly satirical HBO drama that mines the tricky relationships of the ultra-wealthy, but this time it’s a movie called Mountainhead. Written and directed by Armstrong—who helmed the acclaimed HBO series about the powerful Roy family—the new film stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, and Ramy Youssef as four tech billionaires who find their opulent boys’ trip upended by increasingly terrifying global crises. According to the tagline: “Four friends. $371 billion net worth. Zero culpability.”
The trailer opens with the quartet of wealthy pals enjoying a luxurious retreat at a snowy mountain enclave. Their leisurely snowmobile rides and high-stakes poker games are juxtaposed with jarring headlines flashing across screens, suggesting a world spiraling out of control. Reports of “Sectarian Violence Escalating in India” and the “President of Uzbekistan Forced to Move to Secret Location” pierce their billionaire bubble. The tension further escalates when the President of the United States contacts the group. “What could he possibly have to say?” asks Smith. Youssef responds: “That your platform has inflamed a volatile situation, circulating unfalsifiable deepfakes, massive fraud, market instability.”
Filming only began on Mountainhead in March, meaning Armstrong only gave himself a few months to shoot and edit the movie before its release. In a recent interview with Variety, Youssef praised the film, saying it’s “funny in the same way Succession is.” Mountainhead premieres May 31 on HBO and Max. Watch the trailer below.
