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.

Taylor Swift has bought back all the rights to her master recordings – but has suggested she won’t be re-releasing her Reputation album.

“All the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me,” the star announced on her official website.

“I’ve been bursting tears of joy… ever since I found out this is really happening.”

The pop star had originally lost the rights to her first six albums in 2019 when her first record label, Big Machine, sold them to music executive Scooter Braun.

After she learned Braun had acquired her musical catalogue, she opened up about it in a lengthy Tumblr post, blaming him for being complicit in Kanye West’s “incessant, manipulative bullying” of her.

Swift said she was not given the opportunity to buy her work outright, and so, in a bid to diminish the value of the master tapes, she set about re-recording them.

She had re-released four “Taylor’s Version” albums to date. Just her self-titled debut album and Reputation remained.

Braun later sold his stake in her albums to Shamrock Holdings, a Los Angeles investment fund, in a deal reported to be worth £222 million.

It is not known how much Swift paid Shamrock to re-acquire the rights to her songs.

Swift said she was “forever grateful” to Shamrock for allowing her to buy the rights to her music back.

“This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams,” Swift wrote on her website.

“I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.”

What it means for Reputation fans

Just two albums remained to be re-released by Swift – her self-titled debut album and Reputation. The latter was a particularly strong source of speculation among fans, who would look for clues in her outfits during her record-breaking Era’s tour.

But this announcement could spell the end of that.

“Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it,” Swift said.

She said Reputation was “so specific” to a certain time in her life, that she kept hitting a block when she tried to re-record it. She also said she felt it was the first album she could not improve by re-recording it.

Debut has been re-recorded, with Swift saying she “loves how it sounds now”.

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But both albums could still “re-emerge when the time is right”, particularly the unreleased tracks.

“If it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have,” Swift said.

How Swift’s stance changed the music industry

In the music industry, the owner of a master controls all rights to their artists’ recordings. This is usually agreed in contracts with artists, and allows them to recoup the financial investment they make in stars, including funding production, marketing and promotion.

It also means they can distribute it to new streaming services or license the songs to be used in movies.

Swift, as co-writer of her music, had always maintained publishing rights.

“I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies. I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it,” she told Billboard in 2019.

Swift said today she had been “heartened by the conversations this saga had reignited within my industry among artists and fans”.

“Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this right, I’m reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.”

Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual assault charges as he appeared in court in London.

The British comedian and actor, from Hambleden in Buckinghamshire, was charged by post last month with one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape as well as two counts of sexual assault.

The charges relate to alleged incidents involving four separate women between 1999 and 2005.

The 49-year-old, who has been living in the US, was flanked by two officers as he pleaded not guilty to all the charges at Southwark Crown Court today.

Brand stood completely still and looked straight ahead as he delivered his pleas.

The comedian, who has consistently denied having non-consensual sex since allegations were first aired two years ago, is due to stand trial in June 2026.

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He previously told his 11.2 million followers on X that he welcomed the opportunity to prove his innocence.

The allegations were first made in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023.

As Friday’s hearing finished, Brand replaced his sunglasses before exiting the dock and calmly walking past reporters.