How – and Who – Jesse Armstrong Assembled ‘Mountainhead’ So Quickly

What Became Jesse Armstrong’s First Script Since Succession Started with A Book Review.

In november 2023, the Succession Creator Wrote A Review for the Times Literary Supplement of Going InfiniteMichael Lewis’ Book About Disgraced Cryptocurrency Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. The Assignment Led to “A Bunch of Reading… About Tech, AI, Social Media and Ownership,” Armstrong Told The Hollywood Reporterand that in Turn Took Him to the World of Silicon Valley Podcasting.

“I Started Getting The Tone of Voice of Silicon Valley and The Broader Tech World in My Ear,“ He Said, “and The Incredible Confident of Pronouncements – Not Just About TECH Pronouncements about all sorts of digferent areas ”Stuck with HIM. “That voice Became so personal that it was like like, I want to do this voice. And in a Way, the voice Came First, the Frame of the Movie Became Apparent.”

The Movie is Mountainheadwhoh premieres on hbo saturday. The Film Stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy YouSef As Tech Moguls who gather for a guys’ Weekend at the Mountaintop Home of Schwartzman As they do, thorough, a worldwide crisis erupts, caused in no small part by a set of ai tools that allwow for super-convincking deepfake video from the richest member) of. The Four Spend Much of the Movie Debating What, If Anything, To Do About The Escalating Chas and Pondering WHATHER SHALD, Essentally, Take Over The World.

Despite that bleak description, thorough, elements of Dark Comedy (and Even Farce) Run Through MountainheadSimilar to How Armstrong’s Succession operated. The Comic Elements Were Actuly Necessary, Armstrong Told Thr: “The Extreme of Where [the characters] Get to, I Hope, Feels Like The Same Sort of Unbalance That You Can Cantimes Feel As You Watch World Events Unfold Right Now. ”

For Such A High-Profile Project, Mountainhead CAME TOGETCHER REMARKABLY QUICKLY. HBO AnnounCed the Film in January; the four leads sigrated on Between then and the beginning of filming in march; and Production Wrappers in April, Leaving Less than Two Months for Post-Production. On top of all that, Mountainhead Is Armstrong’s First Time Directing A Feature-LenGth Project.

The Speed ​​of the Production Pretty Well Matched The Public Timeline, Armstrong Said. HE PITCHED THE IDEA TO HBO CHEF CASEY BLOYS IN December 2024, THEN WROTE The Script in January. MOST OF THE CAST SIGNED ON BEFORE ARMSTRONG FINISHED The Script, and the Production Time Was Short.

Armstrong Also Wanted to Get Mountainhead in Front of Viewers As Quickly As Possible for A Coupple of Reasons. First, As He Told Thr at the Movie’s Premiere On May 22, “WHEN PEOPLE SEE IT, they’ll Realize i About this World That We Live in Right Now, and The Tech World Changes SO QUICK SAME SORT OF BUBBLE OF TIME. ”

Armstrong Also Didn’t Want to Give HimSelf Too Much Time to Overthynk Things As He Took On His First Big Directing Assignment.

“I KNEW THAT, IN A WAY, The Cure for My An Anxieties About [directing] WAS TWOFOLD, “HE SAID.“ ONE WAS SURROUNDING MYSELF WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO HAD WORKED ON SuccessionSO I FELT REALLY ABLE TO ASK DUMB QUESTIONS AND TO Lean On People Who and Trusted. And the Other Thing Was Maybe i’m Never Going to Read Enough Interviews with Other Directors to Insolete Myseld from The Mistakes I’M Going to Make. Maybe It’s Better Just to Run at It And Dive in and Learn As I GO, Surrounded by People Who Going to Protect Me. … I was just Cocooned by People Who and Could Say, ‘Look, Is this Going to work? Is this ok? Have i done that right? Is that wrong? Tell Me. ‘ So that was my solation to that problem, Racher than having Longer Preparation Time. ”

Mountainhead Premieres at 8 PM May 31 on HBO and Max.