If you finish watching the new HBO original movie Mountainhead by Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession, now available on Max, and suddenly find yourself wanting to plan a ski trip with your friends, you might have missed the film’s main message. Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the stunning beauty of the Mountainhead filming location in Utah.
Written and directed by Armstrong in his debut as a feature film director, Mountainhead is a sharp and harsh satire focusing on the world’s dominant figures: billionaires. The movie stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, and Ramy Youssef as four best friends who refer to themselves as the “Brewsters,” all of whom have achieved considerable success in their respective fields. With only one of them, Schwartzman’s character known as “Souper” (short for “Soup Kitchen”), not being a billionaire. While chaos ensues in the world around them, the Brewsters gather at Souper’s newly acquired ski estate in the mountains to deliberate, among other things, their plans for global domination.
Mountainhead was given the green light, cast, filmed, and edited within a brief timeframe of a few months, with the majority of the action unfolding at a single location in Utah. Keep reading to discover more details about the filming locations of Mountainhead, including the specific house used for filming.
Mountainhead was filmed on location in Park City, Utah, and the majority was filmed at a large, luxury ski house in the mountains in the Deer Valley area. According to a 2024 article from Robb Report, this private luxury estate is 21,378 square feet, comes with a two-lane bowling alley (as seen in the film), and an NBA-sized basketball court. The house is currently up for sale for $65 million, and you can check out the estate on via the official website, deervalleyskiestate.com. The home boasts seven bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. Those who have watched the movie will recognize the photos on the website’s gallery.
In a recent interview with Decider, star Jason Schwartzman revealed that while the cast didn’t stay in the house while filming, it did start to feel like home by the end of the five-week shoot. “When we first got there, day one, it was like, ‘Whoa,’ like you’d think it would be to walk into that house,” Schwartzman said. “’Jeez Louise, look at this!’ But by the end, I was like, ‘Ahhhh, I’m home.’ That place was starting to feel comfortable. We shot some stuff on the mountain, and I remember coming back and being like, ‘Ahh, it’s so good to be back!’”
As for the scene that the cast shot on the outside on the mountains, that was filmed on top of Snowbird Mountain in Snowbird, Utah, outside of Salt Lake City. Schwartzman recalled being atop the mountain at 12,000 feet, filming the scene where the four men write their net worths in lipstick on their bare chests.
“I remember we were freezing cold, just doing the scene, trying to survive, to get the scene right,” Schwartzman told Decider. “I remember Jesse behind the camera, [saying], ‘Just wave!’ And I remember Ramy [Youssef] saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m freezing.’ Steve’s like, ‘Just hold on! We’re almost done!’ It was amazing, that kind of camaraderie.”
So there you have it! For the price of $65 million, you too can live like Schwartzman in Mountainhead. Just try not to take over Argentina in a coup.
Mountainhead is now streaming on HBO Max, and will premiere on HBO at 8 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT on May 31.
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