Mountainhead: “We go further than succession”

Two years after the masterful end of succession, Jesse Armstrong returns with a black comedy for HBO (to see on Max in France) on the drifts of Silicon Valley and the arrogance of ultra-rich. Meeting with the British designer, who first passes behind the camera.

We had left him at the top, after a final of Succession Already entered the legend of the small screen.
Jesse Armstrong makes his return today with Mountainheadhis first feature film as director, which he wrote, shot and mounted in record time (to see in streaming on Max). An acidic and almost burlesque-where power, tech and the madness of grandeur intersect in a breathtaking setting. The British creator tells us about his ambition, his obsessions and this express production. Encounter.

First: Tell me first where I can buy this absolutely incredible house! It really exists?
Jesse Armstrong : No artificial intelligence or CGI. It is a real house in Utah, not far from Park City, where the Sundance Festival takes place. There are lots of rich bankers who live there. It’s pretty crazy as a building, I admit. When the production found it, they called me by saying: “I think it’s the right one. It is perfect. But she depresses me so much … “ They had an almost epidermal, almost psychic reaction at this enormous place, embedded in the rock, in the mountains. One has the impression that it absorbs all your energy. No but serious, there is a basketball room in this house! Inevitably, it generates a form of repulsion in front of this kind of construction so outrageous, so expensive … And suddenly, it becomes a character in its own right in our history.

You presented this project to HBO barely six months ago and the film is released today …
Yes, I think I had the idea at Casey Bloys (the HBO boss) last December. I wrote everything in January. We did the preproduction in February. We shot about twenty days between March and April. And afterwards, there was the assembly. I remember showing the film in preview in New York almost when leaving the editing studio, with the cassette under my arm.

Why should the production be done so quickly?
This is my first film as a director and I was afraid, I think. It had to go quickly for me to throw myself into it entirely, without having too much time to think about it. And then there was a kind of emergency, given the subject. It is very linked to the current world. I do not think that the world will change radically in the coming months, but I wanted to make the film in the same informational climate, in the same cultural atmosphere as that in which spectators live today.

Are there advantages and disadvantages to turn so quickly?
For me, it was above all a good thing. We turned in the same way as at the time of Succession. So I knew where I was going. And above all, I knew from the start the tone I wanted to Mountainhead. However, this is often what takes the most time to establish in a production. There, we did not have time to question too much or to reconsider everything. Writing, editing, everything followed the path imagined from the start and it suited me very well. On the set, we still had time to take off, to try things. But as it is a closed door, it made it easier.

How did you manage to sign Steve Carell in such a short timing?
I was lucky, because I wrote his character thinking about him. I called him when we were still looking for the house and the script was not finished. I did not have much details to give him on his role. I called him, and he said yes. He was the first to accept. From there, everything has become simpler.

Why did you decided to get started today in the realization?
I would have liked to try at the time of Successionbut I was very busy by writing. Mark Mylod directed most of the episodes (16 in total, editor’s note) and it was perfect. We had developed an ideal collaboration. I think it would have been arrogant on my part to say: “I will take over for such an episode“. And then, as a producer, I was on the set, I could explain directly to the actors how I saw things, without having to be in the chair of the director. But I admit that there, to direct actors who play what I wrote, it is a very particular feeling. I will never be a” arty “director, who does in pure aesthetics. What I really like is the actors. Performances.

Mountainhead, Is it a comedy?
Absolutely. It’s totally a comedy. A black comedy. That Succession was not. There were scathing and fun replicas, but it was really a drama.

Compared to Successionit’s also much more cynical, right?
Oh yes ? Do you find? It’s interesting. I didn’t think you would say that, but I totally understand your point of view. I would say that these four billionaires live in their bubble. They are in their heads, totally disconnected from the rest of the world, much more than in Succession. They are convinced, on a philosophical level, that their way of thinking must impose itself on the world and will change it. Suddenly, we go further in madness than that we could afford in the very pragmatic universe of Succession.

On an ethical level, which seeks to denounce Mountainhead ?
Not so much as that, basically. There are lots of ideas that we develop, of course. I wanted to stage these people from Silicon Valley who speak all the time and who dominate current global culture. At the time of Gilded Age American, we didn’t really know who these ultra-rich were like Rockefeller or JP Morgan. Today, ultra-rich are intervening between them in podcasts, they make Ted Talks. The Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk tell us their lives. Their voice is everywhere. There is a moment when self -confidence becomes arrogance. I think that’s what my film is talking about.

The social network of the film is called Traam. We sometimes think we hear “Trump” … Is it done on purpose or is it just me, French spectator?
No, it’s not at all done on purpose (laughs). We looked for a lot of names for this social network. It is not easy, because the legal service must validate them. And 95 % of the names you find are already registered trademarks …

Where does this fascination for ultra-rich come from?
Your question is justified! (laughs) It is true that I keep coming back. I assure you that it is not to be able to hang around in their huge houses … It is mainly because I am very interested in power. The power of the media, in particular. Newspapers, TV, networks … When we wonder how our fellow citizens are inquired on a daily basis, we realize that we all live in a world shaped by social media companies.

Besides, the story of Mountainhead could take place in a corner of the universe of SuccessionNo ?
No, I don’t believe. It’s not the same atmosphere. The tone really pushes the cursors further. Maybe Lukas Matsson, the CEO of Tech embodied by Alexander Skarsgård in the series, could be part of it. I even asked myself the question at some point in writing. But I think it would have been too confused for the public. It was necessary that it was another universe.

How would Logan Roy feel in this group of billionaires, do you think?
Ah, I think he wouldn’t like them at all! (laughs) As much, Logan is not afraid to lie if necessary. But he hates people who say bullshit and who veil his face. And the four of Mountainhead Completely lie to themselves by thinking that they have the right, philosophical, to do whatever they want. Logan, despite all his faults, was not at all in this spirit. On the other hand, Tom would certainly integrate very well into this circle! (Laughs) He is quite the genre to believe in his own bullshit.

What are your projects after this film?
There will be no follow -up to Mountainheadit is not planned. I may continue to realize, but I don’t know what. I am in this very pleasant phase where I can take the time to think about my options. I write things. And maybe it will not be on rich people this time …

Mountainhead, to see on Max in France, June 1, 2025