Billionaires and AI are the true villains in the Mountainhead trailer from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong

Billionaires aren’t exactly at the top of everyone’s nice list nowadays. With that in mind, perhaps now is the perfect time for Succession creator Jesse Armstrong to bring a trailer for his elite-lampooning film Mountainhead to the forefront. The HBO movie centers on four billionaires – Steve Carell (Despicable Me franchise, The Four Seasons, Asteroid City), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Moonrise Kingdom), Cory Michael Smith (Saturday Night, May December, Transatlantic), Ramy Youssef (Mr. Robot, Ramy, The Studio) – who after escaping to a posh palace in the mountains, discover one of them has unknowingly unleashed chaos.

In the latest Mountainthead trailer, a news report says, “U.N officials are now openly attributing the recent uptick in ethnic tension to powerful new generative AI tools,” pointing toward a colossal blunder on behalf of Cory Michael Smith’s character, Venis. As Venis’s three cohorts brainstorm solutions to his problem, tensions rise as it becomes evident that Venis’s negligence could be the root of their growing concerns. To escape blame, the foursome mounts a mission to buy their way out of the ordeal, including purchasing whole countries to bury the blowback.

Mountainhead finds Jesse Armstrong behind the camera for the first time. The film is also his first writing project since his four-season run on his multi-award-winning series Succession ended. Hadley Robinson, Andy Daly, Ali Kinkade, Daniel Oreskes, David Thompson, Amie MacKenzie, and Ava Kostia also star as primary players in Armstrong’s latest look at the ineptitude of elites.

In addition to writing and directing Moundtainhead, Jesse Armstrong executive produces alongside Frank Rich, Lucy Prebble, Jon Brown, Tony Roche, Will Tracy, Mark Mylod, and Jill Footlick.

“I’m intrigued to discover whether being around so many brilliant actors and directors on ‘Succession’ has in any way rubbed off on me. Let’s hope so,” Armstrong said in March. “I’m grateful to Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi, and the whole HBO team for backing this film so wholeheartedly and helping me pull together a dream team of cast and crew.”

Added Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming and head of HBO drama series and films, “We’re ecstatic to be back in business with the singular talent Jesse Armstrong coming off our fruitful collaboration on Succession. Jesse once again raises the bar with a bold examination of modern greed, power and male ambition. That this feature serves as his directorial debut will only elevate what is already thrilling on the page, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this timely film with the world soon.”

What do you think about Jesse Armstrong’s Mountainhead trailer? Let us know in the comments section below.

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