‘Mountainhead’ Is ‘Succession’ however With Stealthier Costumes

LONDON — Jesse Armstrong, the creator of “Succession,” is effectively versed within the lives of the extraordinarily wealthy. And it reveals in his new HBO movie “Mountainhead,” one other anthropology of wealth centered round 4 male associates stranded in a snowstorm towards the backdrop of an ongoing monetary disaster.

In typical Armstrong vogue, the characters are wearing principally beige or monochrome colours and not using a emblem in sight — a signifier that for the wealthy, quiet luxurious by no means dies.

“Their wealth is from their mental property and enterprise acumen. It’s not inherited essentially. All of those individuals have had privilege of some type, however they may have simply been individuals who have been actually intelligent and got here and figured one thing out,” mentioned costume designer Susan Lyall, who stayed far-off from the standard suspects of quiet luxurious corresponding to Loro Piana and Brunello Cucuinelli for these characters.

She helped the forged discover their footing in the appropriate footwear, from Steve Carell as Randall in his Zegna zipper boots and Hoka trainers; Cory Michael Smith as Venis in his Salmon x Kith sneakers; Ramy Youssef as Jeff in Arc’teryx lace-up boots and Aether trainers, and Jason Schwartzman as Hugo Van Yalk in On trainers, ankle-length Uggs and Birkenstocks.

Every character is loosely based mostly on the lifetime of a billionaire savant, the identical method that Armstrong’s “Succession” was a fictionalized account of Rupert Murdoch’s life.

Armstrong gave Lyall an in depth file that included books, interviews, podcasts, pictures and different paperwork for her to review individuals corresponding to Peter Thiel, the previous chief govt officer of PayPal; David O. Sacks, an investor in web know-how companies; Jack Dorsey, the cofounder of Twitter, now X, and Jason Calacanis, an entrepreneur, angel investor and one of many hosts of the enterprise and know-how podcast “All-In” that Sacks can also be on. She dove deep into the podcast and even took some notes.

“The clothes by no means actually will get talked about, however it’s the implication of their character,” she defined. “It was an excellent supply of analysis for me. One of many hosts, Chamath Palihapitiya, went to the inauguration of President Donald Trump and he confirmed photos of all of the issues he wore. I couldn’t imagine it. He had a Loro Piana jacket right here and a Brunello Cucinelli there — he clearly actually knew his stuff,” Lyall added.

However with the characters of “Mountainhead,” it’s much less about being fashion-forward. 

Armstrong instructed the costume designer that he needed Carell’s character to “push the boundaries barely past the consolation stage to lift just a little little bit of an eyebrow.” Working example, he wears a pink block sweater from the Japanese model Cognomen within the movie — a coloration that’s not within the Armstrong palette of neutrals.

The sweater shortly grew to become an necessary a part of “Mountainhead,” partly as a result of it was a simple method for Armstrong to determine Carell and in addition as a result of it provides to the character’s fixation on Roman historical past. The phrase cognomen is a 3rd identify, or nickname, given to an historic Roman citizen, normally handed down from father to son.

Lyall initially tried to place Carell in a coat with the sweater, however the thought was rejected by Armstrong.

“These persons are so wealthy they go from their workplace to a automotive to a aircraft to a different automotive. It’s that stage of wealth and rich individuals usually don’t have coats on,” she defined.

The method of getting ready the costumes for “Mountainhead” was completely different from what Lyall or any costume designer is used to — there was no sourcing or thrifting concerned. Every thing was field recent and clear with out being flashy. So as an alternative, she shopped at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Todd Snyder, Nordstrom and Re:Al, a retailer in TriBeCa.

For Youssef’s character, she reached out to the London-based jewellery model Jagga to make customized bracelets for him based mostly on pictures of Dorsey.

In engaged on a male-dominated movie, Lyall embraced the problem.

“I like to decorate males extra as a result of I discover the conventions are simply extra restricted. And in a bizarre method, I just like the parameters of the universe of males’s clothes — it’s limiting, however then you definately type of hone in just a little nearer to what you need,” she mentioned, including that it was why she additionally loved costuming the historic authorized drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”

By the years, numerous her work has centered round actual individuals. In “Molly’s Recreation,” starring Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, who was dubbed the “Poker Princess” within the early 2000s, she had greater than 92 costume modifications for the actress.

“In my interview with Jesse [Armstrong], we spoke about ‘Molly’s Recreation’ as a result of the characters in ‘Mountainhead’ are a pastiche of tech bros and enterprise capitalists. A few of the gamers in ‘Molly’s Recreation’ have been impressed by somebody in actual life, however we didn’t recreate them verbatim,” she mentioned.

The characters that Lyall works on have a humanity to them — they’re not concepts plucked from Hollywood movie scripts.

One cause she grew to become a fancy dress designer was due to the “Cinderella” movie from 1965.

“When the mice and the birds are serving to make her gown, they’re singing the track that claims: ‘There’s nothing to it, actually’ and also you simply put a ribbon on it. I’m fairly certain that was one actually lasting picture for me,” she mentioned.

One other movie she loves is “Smithereens” from the early ‘80s for its “pure look.”

“We overdo numerous issues now, however the British movie trade doesn’t overdo it,” mentioned Lyall, pointing to her work on “Luther: The Fallen Solar,” which was shot in London in 2022. “I discovered with the hair, make-up and costumes — all the pieces had a extra pure look to it — the shirts are wrinkled, not everybody has their lipstick on and their hair is messy prefer it ought to be. That’s one thing I actually recognize in regards to the British movie trade.”

Within the stealth wealth world of “Mountainhead,” Lyall manages to make the characters aspirational with out dropping their nerdy edge, proving that not all tech moguls put on a menagerie of sheep, goats, bovines and vicuñas.