<em>Mountainhead</em>: The Real Life Tech Execs Each Character Is Based On

As much as Mountainhead director Jesse Armstrong protests that his characters are not based on anyone in real life, the tech oligarchs at the center of his new film are obvious parallels to some of the richest men in the world. Armstrong’s HBO series, Succession, poked fun at media dynasties like the Murdoch family. Now, in Mountainhead, the satirist takes aim at Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and more.

The film—which premiered on HBO Max on Saturday, May 31—follows four of the richest men in the world as they meet for a boy’s night during a global catastrophe. The richest one among them, Venis "Ven" Parish (Cory Michael Smith) uploads new AI tools to his social networking platforming, Traam, which circulates dangerous deepfakes and causes global unrest. As the group comes together to play poker and celebrate their wealth, they try their best to ignore the growing conflict as it cracks through their fortress of wealth.

Armstrong reportedly took inspiration from books such as Michael Lewis’ Going Infinite (about FTX crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried), and Ashlee Vance’s Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Then, from all his research into today’s billionaires, he told TIME that he created, “Frankenstein monsters with limbs sewn together."

So, let’s break down who each member of Mountainhead’s cast most likely represents in the real world.

Cory Michael Smith as "Venis."

As the richest man in the world in Mountainhead, Ven’s most obvious parallel is Elon Musk. For starters, the character is immediately in trouble in the beginning of the film for launching an untested AI tool on his social media platform, Traam. He also announces the update by posting “Fuuck” to the platform’s eight billion users.

Venis has a fair amount of similarities with Mark Zuckerberg as well, since it seems as if his wealth stems entirely from his social media platform. But even though Ven doesn’t act like either Zuckerberg or Musk, his obsession with unfiltered AI (like X’s Grok), his desire to leave Earth, and his strange relationship with his child center the character firmly within the realm of the Tesla CEO.

Steve Carrell as "Randall Garrett."

Steve Carrell’s character is the “Poppa Bear” of the group. He was Ven’s first investor in the film, much like Peter Thiel’s early investment in Facebook. Garrett and Thiel also share their pursuit to rapidly advance technology in their quest for immortality.

Over the years, Thiel has become an outward spokesperson for life-extension technologies and even cryogenic freezing. While Garrett is propelled by his search for a cure to cancer, Thiel is on record on multiple occasions rallying for the “super-duper medical treatments” that will help him escape death. “I’ve looked into all these different, I don’t know, somewhat heterodox things,” Thiel told The Atlantic in a 2023 interview about all the investments he’s made to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. “There are all these things I can’t do with my money.”

Ramy Youssef as "Jeff Abredazi."

Abredazi is the most interesting billionaire among the four members of Mountainhead, as he’s the only one who starts to feel guilty about the technology that they’ve created. He’s the owner of Bilter, an AI company that can provide the specific “guardrails” to stop Traam’s deepfake crisis. So, Jeff expresses ideas about working with the US government to install security measures against Ven’s new tools.

In the beginning of the film, Jeff’s obvious parallel is Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI. He’s at the forefront of a new technology and the youngest billionaire among the group. However, as the film progresses, Jeff seems to grow a conscience about AI’s effect on the world. This switch more closely aligns his character with Dario Amodei. Amodei is the former VP of research at OpenAI who left to form his own company, Anthropic, after he became worried about OpenAI’s lack of safety measures. “The U.S. needs to stay ahead of its adversaries in this technology,” Amodei stated last year. “But also we need to provide reasonable safeguards.”

Jason Schwartzman as "Hugo ’Souper’ Van Yalk"

As the group’s only non-billionaire, Souper is the one hanger-on in Mountainhead. He’s incredibly envious of his friends' success and is desperate to make his first billion dollars. So, Souper spends the film pitching his latest venture: a meditation and lifestyle app called Slowzo (terrible name). Many billionaire hopefuls have turned to mental-health apps to acquire their wealth, but Souper is perhaps the only character without a clear real-life parallel.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is the tech figure most closely tied to meditation. He’s known for his ten-day silence retreats, which are also promoted by “lifestyle guru” Tim Ferriss (author of Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers). Andy Puddicombe, the CEO of Headspace, is another safe bet for Souper’s real-life counterpart.

Still, Armstrong won’t admit to drawing any caricatures in Mountainhead. “For people who know the area well, it's a little bit of a fun house mirror in that you see something and are convinced that it's them,” Armstrong told TIME. “It’s a good parlor game.”