“I don’t know if I can stay the whole weekend, I’m supposed to see a Bugatti in Holland,” says Venis, the richest man in the world, before explaining to his fellow billionaire pals that he’s “bifurcated” between spending what little time he has with his baby and—more importantly—launching a series of features from his social media empire, Traam. Features that enable the mass use of deep fakes and the wide spreading of disinformation that have, oops, just sparked a global crisis.
This happens 14 minutes into Mountainhead, the new film written and directed by the Succession creator Jesse Armstrong, but really you’re thrust into the tension within the first minute. Four tech bro friends have reunited for a weekend hang. Venis, aka Ven, the millennial wonderkid, played by Cory Michael Smith, is the CEO of Traam, which has four billion users across its platforms.
