Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy Youssef play four friends worth nearly half a trillion dollars in “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong‘s HBO film, “Mountainhead,” premiering May 31 on Max.
As these titans of tech reunite at a snowy enclave for a boys’ trip, the world erupts in chaos, as their snowmobile joy rides and poker games are interrupted by headlines like “Sectarian Violence Escalates in India” and “President of Uzbekistan Forced to Move to Secret Location.”
Carell plays a character named Randall, Schwartzman is Hugo Van Yalk (aka “Souper”) and Ramy Youssef is Jeff, who badgers Cory Michael Smith’s character Venis for his “racist and shitty” platform (sound familiar?).
In the trailer, the billionaires receive a call from the President of the United States. “What could he possibly have to say?” asks Smith.
Youssef responds: “That your platform has inflamed a volatile situation, circulating unfalsifiable deepfakes, massive fraud, market instability.”
As international markets tank and violence breaks out abroad, the friends consider their potential culpability — and their personal stakes.
“This is a serious moment. I think that is why I’m so excited about these atrocities,” Carell says in the trailer. “I’m thinking about all of the people who are not killing each other.”
Armstrong wrote and directed the film executive producing alongside Frank Rich, Lucy Prebble, Jon Brown, Tony Roche, Will Tracy, Mark Mylod and Jill Footlick.
Filming began on “Mountainhead” in March, meaning Armstrong only gave himself a couple of months to shoot and edit the movie before its May release.
In a recent interview with Variety, Youssef teased the film, saying it’s “funny in the same way ‘Succession’ is.”
Watch the trailer for “Mountainhead” below.