Succession writer Jesse Armstrong says he hopes his new film about toxic tech billionaires can be a receptacle for anyone who is “feeling wonky about the world”.

Now making his film directorial debut with Mountainhead, starring Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman, Armstrong has shifted his focus from cut-throat media moguls to a group of billionaire friends meeting up to compare bank balances against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis they appear to have stoked.

Speaking to Sky News about the project, he said: “For a little while I poured some of my anxieties and feelings into it… and I hope it can be a receptacle for other people if they’re feeling wonky about the world, maybe this can be somewhere they put some of their anxieties for a while.”

Few television writers achieve widespread recognition beyond their work, but Armstrong – the man behind Succession, one of the most critically acclaimed TV shows of the past decade – has become a household name and is today one of the world’s hottest properties in high-end drama.

“If there was more self-reflection and self-knowledge, there probably wouldn’t be such amenable targets for comedy and satire,” he admits.

Long before he gifted viewers with the likes of manipulative Logan Roy and sycophantically ambitious Tom Wambsgans, back in the beginning, there was selfish slacker Jez and the perennially insecure Mark on his breakthrough hit Peep Show.

“I love comedy, you know, it’s my way in,” he explains. “I think I like it because… the mixture that you get of tragedy and absurdity strikes me as a sort of a true portrayal of the world… and I just like jokes, you know, that’s probably the basic reason.”

After putting his pen down on the finale of Succession, walking away with 19 Emmys and nine Golden Globes, attention was always going to be drawn to what Armstrong did next.

“I had a couple of other things that I thought I would write first and this kind of snuck up on me as an area of interest,” Armstrong says.

“After I’d listened to a bunch of tech podcasts and Ted talks, I sort of needed somewhere to put the tone of voice that was increasingly in my head.”

Tapping into the unease surrounding big tech, he wrote, shot and edited Mountainhead in less than six months.

Capturing the audience mood

Explaining why he worked so fast, he said he “wanted to be in the same sort of mood as my audience, if possible”.

While he insists there aren’t “any direct map-ons” to the billionaire tech moguls, which frequently make headlines in real life, he joked he’s “happy… to play a game of ‘where did I steal what from who?'” with viewers.

“You know… Elon Musk… I think at least people would see some Mark Zuckerberg and, I don’t know, some Sam Altman, there is a bunch of those people in all the [film’s] different characters… and we’ve stolen liberally from the world in terms of the stories we’ve given them.”

Steve Carell is tasked with delivering some of the film’s most memorable lines as the satire explores the dynamic between those holding the power and those pulling the strings.

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Lack of self-knowledge ‘good for comedy’

“People who lack a certain degree of self-knowledge are good for comedy….and if there was more self-reflection and self-knowledge, there probably wouldn’t be such amenable targets for comedy and satire.

“You know, living in a gated community and travelling by private jet certainly doesn’t help you to understand what life is like for most people.”

Armstrong’s gift for using humour to savagely dramatic ends is arguably what makes him one of the most sought-after writers working today.

Behind his ability to craft some of the sharpest and scathing dialogue on our screens, he views what he does as more than getting a laugh.

“I do believe in the sort of nobility of the idea, that this is a good way to portray the world because this is how it feels a lot of the time.”

Mountainhead will air on Sky and streaming service NOW on 1 June.

FBI agents have reached out to major league baseball players about their knowledge of financial dealings related to a multibillion-dollar group-licensing firm started and owned, in part, by their union and the NFL Players Association, multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation told ESPN.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had direct knowledge of law enforcement calls to at least three players involved in union leadership in recent days. The sources said the players are not targets of the investigation.

According to the sources, law enforcement agents inquired about money related to OneTeam Partners, established in 2019 by the NFLPA, MLBPA and a private-equity partner, RedBird Capital, and used to strike media deals and monetize athletes’ name, image and likeness.

In a statement, OneTeam said it is “aware of an ongoing investigation of allegations concerning our partners. We want to emphasize that OneTeam is not the subject of the investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing in any way. OneTeam is fully committed to cooperating with the investigation.”

Union executives said they have not been contacted by federal agents. “If the MLBPA is contacted by the government, we intend to cooperate fully with any investigation,” the MLBPA said Friday in a statement to ESPN. Player leadership has retained separate legal counsel outside of the union, sources said.

Multiple sources said the investigation is being run out of the Eastern District of New York, whose office is based in Brooklyn. A senior FBI official declined to comment Friday, and a spokesperson with the Eastern District declined to confirm the investigation.

The OneTeam partnership has become a major financial boon for both associations and has grown in valuation as it added the players’ unions of women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, and other sports and college athletes to its portfolio. OneTeam was valued at $1.9 billion in 2022, when RedBird Capital sold its 40% stake to three other investment firms.

The MLBPA’s and NFLPA’s relationships with OneTeam have come under scrutiny before. In late 2024, an anonymous unfair labor practices complaint was filed with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging “nepotism, corruption, mismanagement” at the MLBPA.

In December, the NFLPA’s outside counsel, Richard Smith, launched an audit into whether OneTeam had granted equity options to the executive directors of unions that the company represents, including the MLBPA. In its statement, OneTeam said it “remains steadfast in our commitment to following the best business practices, as has already been determined by the independent audit conducted earlier this year. … We remain dedicated to upholding the highest standards of integrity and transparency in all that we do.”

The NLRB complaint against the MLBPA alleges that the union’s executive director, Tony Clark, “improperly gave himself & other executives equity” in OneTeam and made “inadequate disclosures” about the partnership in annual union filings.

The union has previously denied the allegations against Clark, 52. He was hired as the MLBPA’s director of player relations after 15 seasons as a player and ascended to executive director following the death of his predecessor, Michael Weiner, in 2013. According to an LM-30 federal labor union disclosure he filed last year, Clark holds a seat on the OneTeam board.

Union finances have improved significantly under Clark’s leadership, due in part to proceeds from OneTeam. In 2020-24, the partnership paid the MLBPA nearly $160 million, according to the union’s annual LM-2 reports. In 2024, the union received $44.5 million from OneTeam.

The reports don’t detail how much of the OneTeam windfall was distributed to players. The MLBPA has more than $353 million in total assets, the highest fiscal-year-end figure in its history, according to the documents.

According to the MLBPA’s most recent filing, the union paid Clark $3.5 million in 2024.

The NFLPA’s audit of OneTeam was completed in March and found that the NFLPA’s role as part of OneTeam was “in compliance with best governance practices,” a source with firsthand knowledge said.

An NFLPA spokesperson declined comment Friday.

According to its LM-2s, OneTeam paid the NFLPA $422.8 million in the past five years. The NFLPA’s total assets are nearly $1.4 billion, with almost $240 million in cash, according to the union’s filings.

DeMaurice Smith, the former NFLPA leader who co-founded OneTeam with Clark, left the union in 2023 and was replaced on the partnership’s board by the union’s new executive director, Lloyd Howell Jr.

PHILADELPHIA — Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper remains day-to-day as he continues to recover from a bruised right elbow, leaving his return to the lineup uncertain.

Harper was hit by a 95 mph fastball from Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider during the first inning Tuesday. Although X-rays indicated no fracture, Harper described his elbow as “still super sore” and has yet to resume swinging a bat.

“I’m not sure when I’m going to play again,” Harper said Friday before the Phillies opened a weekend series against Milwaukee. “It hit me in a pretty bad spot. I think the swelling has gone down, which is good, but like I said, it’s a really tough spot where he got me. I just want to be smart about it, too.”

Harper’s elbow, which underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022, remains a sensitive area. In light of the injury, Harper plans to wear a protective guard on his right elbow upon his return.

“It’s really hard to find braces that feel good, that don’t feel as bulky,” Harper said. “I haven’t really worn them my whole career. I have here and there, just to feel it. I did in spring training this year because of this reason. I didn’t like the way it felt.”

Despite the setback, the two-time National League MVP emphasized that he does not believe Strider’s pitch was intentional.

“Obviously there was no intent on it,” Harper said. “He’s a competitive guy, a really good pitcher.”

Phillies manager Rob Thomson echoed Harper’s sentiments, stating that he doesn’t expect Harper to land on the injured list.

“We’ll have to see [when he can return],” Thomson said. “We have to get the swelling out and him be pain free, or close to it.”

Harper took ground balls and fielded throws at first base before Friday’s game, but he didn’t throw any balls or swing a bat.

Harper is hitting .267 with 8 homers and 33 RBIs in 54 games this season. Alec Bohm has shifted from third base to first base to replace Harper. Edmundo Sosa has taken over at third.