Jesse Armstrong’s Mountainhead Debut: How to Watch the Big-Screen Breakthrough
If you thought the Roy family drama was peak chaos, wait until the mind behind Succession tries herding actors—that’s right, Jesse Armstrong has traded boardroom warfare for feature filmmaking in Mountainhead. The series creator makes his feature directing debut with this bleakly comic drama exploring one man’s midlife crisis at 8,000 feet, and you can catch it in select theaters this Friday before it lands on digital platforms.
Armstrong’s pivot from razor-sharp TV scripts to a full-length feature feels a bit like giving someone a Ferrari after they’ve mastered bumper cars—ambitious, flashy, and potentially disastrous. The film debuted at Sundance back in January, where critics praised its austere landscapes and dry wit, though some admitted they dozed off during scene transitions (no judgment here).
Mountainhead stars Andrew Scott as a burnt-out author who retreats to a remote mountain village armed only with a typewriter and a crippling ego, joined by breakout performances from TIFF favorite Emily Beecham and character actor Joe Thomas. Armstrong told Variety, “I wanted to stretch beyond dialogue—let the silence do some heavy lifting,” followed by an awkward pause you could ski down.
As reported by the New York Post, Mountainhead opens in 25 theaters nationwide on November 10, with a wider rollout slated for November 24. Deadline confirms HBO Max will stream the film starting December 5, meaning you can judge Armstrong’s pacing from the comfort of your couch—no hiking boots required.
The soundtrack features an indie folk score so subtle you’ll wonder if it’s playing or if your neighbor’s cat stepped on a piano, but longtime collaborator James Lavelle insists the minimalist approach is “all about letting the mountains speak.” Or maybe it’s about saving on composer fees—hard to say.
Critics are calling Mountainhead “a contemplative triumph” (The Guardian) and “a slow-burn masterpiece” (The Hollywood Reporter), though even they admit the runtime feels endless if you’ve ever been stuck in an airport terminal. Audience reactions vary: some applaud the film’s emotional depth, while others simply applaud because they’re relieved the projector finally stopped.
Irony alert: the guy who wrote about wealth-addled dynasties now asks us to pay $15 a ticket to watch someone run out of money in real time. Box office projections are modest—around $500,000 opening weekend—but Armstrong’s eye for power plays should translate into solid streaming numbers.
Whether you binge-watched every Succession episode or pretended to work while it played in the background, Mountainhead offers enough bleak humor and mountain views to justify a night out (or in). Well, there you have it: high-altitude ennui served with a side of prestige. Tune in next time for more questionable life choices and dinner-party faux pas.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post, Variety, Deadline
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
