5 days ago
What is Mountainhead? Succession creator's new film explained
Mountainhead sees Succession creator Jesse Armstrong's return with another fast-paced tale of obscenely wealthy people squabbling whilst the world collapses.
The writer of the hit series about a media empire headed up by Brian Cox's terrifying patriarch Logan Roy is back on familiar ground with his new film, set to debut on Sky Atlantic on Sunday, 1 June.
Here's all you need to know about Mountainhead, including its impressive cast.
The two-hour film makes its debut on Sky Artlantic on Sunday, 1 June.
It will also be available to stream on NOW, and is repeated on Sky Atlantic on Thursday, 5 and Saturday, 7 June.
Succession fans mourning the end of Armstrong's hit series will welcome his return project - a film set in a world similar to the one the Roy family occupied that follows another group of obnoxious rich people.
Billionaires Randall, Jeff and Venis head up to the mountains for a snowy weekend with super-rich tech entrepreneur Souper at his luxurious ranch. But when they turn on the news, they see that back home things are heating up as fake news spread on a social media platform owned by Venis has sparked riots that are threatening the world's economic stability.
The friends have enough money and power at their disposal to effect change immediately, but like any megalomaniac worth their billions, they soon come to the conclusion that they'd much rather leverage a global takeover instead.
Armstrong's sharp comedy dialogue and themes of gross excess have more than just echoes of Succession and the film is sure to be a must-watch for his fans.
The Peep Show creator told Variety of his new project: "It's a little bit scary after a Succession type of thing that's well-regarded. I knew it was going to be a big thing for me to do the next thing. Maybe it'd be a good idea to run at it fast rather than stewing on it for five years on my second album."
Unsurprisingly, Armstrong has attracted another big-name cast for Mountainhead.
Playing ranch owner Souper is Jason Schwartzman, who's joined by Steve Carell as Randall, Ramy Youssef as Jeff, and Cory Michael Smith as Venis.
Speaking to The Atlantic, Carell said of getting to grips with the pacy, tech-heavy script: "There was a lot of deciphering, a lot of looking up of phrases for all of us—taking notes and watching podcasts."
Meanwhile, Smith described Mountainhead as "a cousin to Succession" in a chat with Vogue and added of working with Armstrong: "He gave us space to really play around and try things out, but what we all learned very quickly was that nothing we were going to do was better than what Jesse had written. His command of language breeds envy. It's inspiring. I'd like to think of myself as a smart, clever guy, but it's very clear that he's Ivy League and I'm just…not. So, I was at his behest with every note."
Mountainhead debuts on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Sunday, 1 June.
