Jesse Armstrong Debuts Tech-Bro Satire Mountainhead on HBO

Jesse Armstrong, creator of "Succession," returns to explore the lives of ultra-wealthy tech moguls in his new HBO film "Mountainhead," which he wrote and directed. Inspired by research into Silicon Valley billionaires and a book on crypto figure Sam Bankman-Fried, Armstrong crafted a dark comedy centered on four tech billionaires gathering for a poker weekend at a mountain estate amid a global crisis triggered by AI-driven disinformation from one of their companies. The characters debate their potential world dominance while grappling with the chaos unleashed by deepfake videos flooding a social media platform, blending bleak dystopian themes with farcical elements similar to Armstrong's previous work. The film stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef, and Cory Michael Smith, and was produced rapidly, premiering on HBO and Max in May 2025. Critics note the film's chilling plausibility and incisive satire of tech utopianism and billionaires’ detachment from reality, with the setting and character dynamics illustrating the cold, unbalanced nature of their power and influence. "Mountainhead" marks Armstrong's feature directing debut and reflects contemporary anxieties about AI, social media, and misinformation’s impact on society.