‘Mountainhead’: How ‘Succession’ Prepared Star Jason Schwartzman for His Role (VIDEO)

Meaghan Darwish May 31, 2025, 7:00 pm

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[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the film Mountainhead.]

Jesse Armstrong traded Succession‘s Roy family for a tech titan getaway in his new HBO film Mountainhead, which follows the events of a pivotal poker game set at the titular estate.

Hosting his fellow businessmen, Hugo Van Yalk, a.k.a. Souper (Jason Schwartzman), is responsible for bringing venture capitalist Randall (Steve Carell), AI creator Jeff (Ramy Youssef), and social media app creator Venis (Cory Michael Smith) for a fateful retreat that changes all of their lives. For anyone who was familiar with the tone of Armstrong’s Emmy-winning hit Succession, the tone is immediately recognizable, but these characters are in a league of their own from the conglomerate-owning Roys.

“I love Succession and I watched those episodes and you watch these performances and… writing and it’s just it’s wonderful,” Schwartzman tells TV Insider. “It really is playing out like a play,” he adds, and so, “It was kind of a thrill to actually get to see that from the inside and get a little bit of perspective on how they do that,” the actor says.

“This crew is the same crew from Succession,” Schwartzman shares of the team behind the scenes. “So it was like joining a band that’s been playing together for a [long time, and] they are totally in sync in a way that’s just unbelievable.”

HBO

And as with any retreat Armstrong takes his characters on, things take a rather wild turn, particularly when one member of the friend group suggests murder. But how does the retreat even get to that point? Venis had launched new content tools on his social media app Traam, which only exacerbated the spread of deepfakes of news reports online, prompting serious repercussions globally and sparking conflict across the world.

But most of the men saw this as an opportunity to grow their already sizable fortunes. At least, most of the men save for Jeff, whose AI software could help combat some of the chaos. When Jeff suggests doing that with Traam and attempting to oust Venis from his position to Randall, the venture capitalist has a shift in perspective.

Randall is upset at Jeff’s desire to deescalate the ongoing chaos, and suggests to Venis and Hugo that they kill Jeff, leading to various murder attempts that are ultimately unsuccessful. “I think, honestly, we were all really looking forward to that section of the film,” Schwartzman says. “For the most part, it was shot in order, and… there’s a real shift right there.”

TV Review: 'Mountainhead'

One attempt is at the top of a staircase when Hugo is essentially tricked into trying to push Jeff off the top flight by Randall and Venis, who chicken out. Eventually, the men try again, with Hugo trying to smother Jeff with a pillow, “[It] all of a sudden became this very physical experience for all of us,” Schwartzman recalls. “I remember Steve saying before we started, like, ‘I just can’t wait to get to that murder scene. I just can’t wait to do that.’ And there was something just insane about it.”

In the end, the men can’t go through with the killing after they manage to lock Jeff in a sauna, but they do finagle different business dealings out of him, and most of the men leave the retreat monetarily richer than when they arrived. Jeff’s ultimate acceptance of his friends’ treatment of him only serves to make viewers question how much one person is willing to swallow when money is involved? It would seem like a lot as Jeff parted ways with the group awkwardly, but more amicably than most others would.

Check out Schwartzman’s full interview, above, and don’t miss Mountainhead on HBO and Max.

Mountainhead, Streaming now, Max