Latest news with #Fountainhead
Hindustan Times
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
I'm interested in writing about power: 'Succession' creator Jesse Armstrong on new film 'Mountainhead'
New Delhi, "Succession" creator Jesse Armstrong says his film "Mountainhead", much like his critically-acclaimed HBO show about media mogul Logan Roy, is an exploration of power and how a group of people control the quality and quantity of information that goes out in the world. In his directorial debut, currently streaming on JioHotstar, the multiple Emmy and Golden Globe-winner Armstrong once again trains his lens on the ultra rich. In the movie, four tech billionaires come together for a weekend retreat as a global crisis unfolds thanks to the deep-fake videos of a social media app owned by one of them. The real world filters through videos and images on their screens, but they are more concerned about their net worth and how the crisis can help multiply it. Asked why he is so focused on exploring the lives of the rich in his stories, Armstrong said it may be because he thinks a lot about "income distribution and how very unbalanced it is". "A writer doesn't always know why they choose the subjects they do or why they're drawn to certain areas. Maybe I'm more angry than I know , but I think I'm writing about power," Armstrong responded to a question posed by PTI during an international media roundtable. "In 'Succession', he said, it was the power of Logan Roy's family and their control over the media. "In this story , it's not that they're rich guys although it's important that they are rich guys and are constantly ranking themselves and thinking about their wealth but it's their power that's the centre of the story. It's their ability to change how most of the people in the world receive information and the quality and quantity of information that they're receiving." In "Mountainhead", the eldest of the group is Randall , he is also the group's leader. Jeff is the founder of an AI tech company that's on the upswing thanks to crisis created by Venis' social media app and Hugo is the owner of the mountain top villa whose name is a play on Ayn Rand's novel "Fountainhead". For much of the movie's duration, they remain in the mansion. And when they go out, they write their net worths on their chests during a hike in what seems to be among the many absurd rituals the four have for their poker weekend. Armstrong, 54, said he did not want his first movie to be "too expensive", which is why he thought of the story "much like a chamber piece" where everyone is locked in a house. "I like that feeling of pressure cooker... But I also knew that we are on TV and most TV now is big screens in people's homes. So, I needed some sense of scope and to let some air in. I normally don't do this, but it was kind of back engineered like why do these guys go out? Maybe they have a ritual during their poker weekends where they do this ranking." Armstrong, also known for "Downhill", "Peep Show", and "In the Loop", said he did not have any particular actors in mind while writing the movie, but he knew that "Office" star Carell would be brilliant as Randall. On a question about what went through his mind when he saw tech CEOs at president Donald Trump's inauguration and Elon Musk's involvement with DOGE, Armstrong said "it didn't feel good as a human being watching that stuff". "...but it did feel like, 'Yeah, this was the bubble of time that I was trying to write about and how I thought it feels in the world'... You get these weird coincidences of real stuff in the real world. And it feels spooky when it's very close. "...The tech billionaires in my film are actually outside government, so it wasn't like DOGE was part of the film, but certainly that interconnectedness between political power and tech power at the moment did feel like 'Okay, the film is still writing about this world, which is happening in front of our face'." Armstrong said during his research, he started listening to podcasts of "some of these tech world figures talking to each other" and was struck by their tone. "Sometimes you could feel the level of confidence tipping into a certain haughty arrogance. And that is a very rich vein for a comedy writer to hit. So I think it was that tone of voice, which I was attracted to."
Time of India
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Mountainhead Review: A relevant, promising satire undone by heavy talk and blunted ideas
Story: Four ultra-wealthy tech billionaires gather at a mountain mansion in Utah for a retreat as the world reels from a global crisis sparked by AI-fuelled misinformation. Review: 'Mountainhead' is a strange, slightly maddening film that wants to show us just how deluded tech billionaires can be. It's a drama, with flashes of black comedy, trying to get into the minds of the ultra-rich who genuinely believe they're here to shape the world — maybe even save it. The film revolves around four central characters and sets up an intriguing premise, but it never quite takes off. It often feels stuck in its own head, and the characters speak in such lofty, philosophical riddles that you begin to wonder who, exactly, this is for. Coming from Jesse Armstrong, the creator of the brilliant 'Succession,' it's hard not to feel let down by a film that could've had so much bite. The plot revolves around a group of four super wealthy tech friends who call themselves the 'Brewsters' and have gathered at a luxury mountain retreat in Utah called Mountainhead — a not-so-subtle nod to Ayn Rand's 'Fountainhead.' There's Venis (Cory Michael Smith), who runs a social media platform called Traam that's accidentally spreading AI-generated deepfakes across the globe. Then there's Jeff (Ramy Youssef), whose AI tech is spiraling into misuse, and Randall (Steve Carell), a powerful investor now grappling with terminal cancer. Their reunion, hosted by Souper (Jason Schwartzman), starts off with some banter and passive-aggression but soon shifts into something darker. They turn their moral compass toward Jeff, eventually coming to the conclusion that his invention is a threat to humanity. All of this unfolds while the world burns outside, and they continue sipping rare whisky, as if the apocalypse were just another business issue to debate. Armstrong treads familiar ground — the obscenely rich, cocooned from consequence — but where 'Succession' was sharp, messy, and emotionally alive, 'Mountainhead' is colder and more abstract. It also draws directly from real life: Venis' denial of responsibility for Traam's impact echoes Zuckerberg's detachment during the 2016 US presidential election, while Randall's fixation on cheating death recalls Peter Thiel. A close watch will reveal glimpses of Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Sam Bankman-Fried in the characters too. There are clever moments, especially when the film leans into satire — like when Souper writes everyone's net worth in lipstick on their bare chests or when Jeff's wealth overtakes Randall's by some obscure metric. But those flashes of absurdity don't carry through the whole film. Much of the dialogue is dense and philosophical, peppered with Kant and Plato, and after a while it stops feeling smart and starts feeling like noise. The performances, though, are solid across the board. Jason Schwartzman, Steve Carell, Cory Michael Smith, and Ramy Youssef do what they can with characters who are often more like ideas than real people. The film does find a bit of momentum toward the end, when the outside world's chaos finally seeps into Mountainhead and shakes the group out of their bubble. It's the only point where the story feels like it has real stakes. Until then, it mostly meanders, unsure whether it wants to be a satire, a character study, or a tech-world fable. In the end, 'Mountainhead' is more of a warning sign than a fully formed film. It has some compelling ideas — and certainly no shortage of ambition — but it's weighed down by its own cleverness. It wants to say something urgent about power, tech, and the people shaping our future, but it often gets lost in its own intellectual fog. There are moments that stick, but not enough to make the whole thing land. In the end, it comes across as a sermon disguised as a satire.
CBS News
07-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Volatility in the stock market leads to soaring gold prices
The price of gold continues hover in record high territory, as investors look to the precious metal with the growing uncertainty in the stock market. That is good news for Seth Chandler, owner of Witter Coin in San Francisco who seeing more people come into his store to buy and sell gold. "When you have a one-ounce gold coin in your hand, it feels very heavy, it feels like real money," said Chandler. And since the beginning of the year, the price of gold is up more than 28-percent (May 6th 2025), hitting $3,000 per ounce on March 14th, and briefing reaching a record high above $3,500 per ounce on April 22nd. Joe Halpern, Chief Investment Officer of Fountainhead says, the recent interest in gold can be tied to the volatility in the stock market, since the start of the Trump Administration. "It has been going up for a while now for over the last year. But you really saw lift after Liberation Day on April 2nd. At first gold moved down with the whole market, but then it increased dramatically," said Halpern. "And gold is really a flight to safety. So, when people are nervous, they tend to sell out of those risky assets like an Apple or a Microsoft, and they go into Treasury or gold." Halpern says, for those looking to invest you can buy into a Gold ETF or mutual fund. Meanwhile for Chandler, while he does not give out investment advice, he understands people's fascination with physical gold. "Once you own it, you can put it in the safe deposit box, hide it under your mattress, your shoe, whatever you want. But you have it. You own it," said Chandler.
