Ridley Scott, a director known for taking on sinister creatures, like in his other 2017 movie Alien: Covenant, is now tackling the true story of John Paul Getty III's kidnapping in 1973 in All the Money in the World.
John Paul Getty III, who went by Paul, was just 16 years old when he was kidnapped in Rome and held ransom for $17 million dollars. His grandfather, J. Paul Getty, was at the time the richest man in the world, and probably also one of the cheapest.
Getty refused to pay the ransom — this is a billionaire who had a payphone installed in his home so he wouldn’t have to pay for workers’ calls, so no surprise, right? His reasoning was that if he paid the ransom, copycats would then attempt to kidnap his 14 other grandchildren in an attempt to extract money from him.
Kevin Spacey plays Getty, who was 81 at the time, in All the Money in the World, and he is virtually unrecognizable in the impressive makeup. Joining him is Michelle Williams as Getty's daughter-in-law and Paul's mother, Charlie Plummer as Paul, and Mark Wahlberg as Getty's associate who tries to help Williams find her son.
To transform into the role of the 81-year old billionaire, Spacey, who is only 58, spent five hours every day in the makeup chair.
The makeup, he says, helped him become Getty. He told Entertainment Weekly, “I would stand in front of the mirror and not see myself. I saw this man. It was one of the most remarkable experiences that I’ve had as an actor. I can’t even begin to describe what it felt like.”
True crime fanatics and those who hate the 1% will find plenty to love in the movie. Even though Getty’s notorious frugality leads to the mutilation of his grandson, he famously negotiated to give his son, John Paul Getty Jr., a loan of $2.2 million (the maximum tax deductible amount) after the family received an ear in the mail. Getty Jr. was expected to pay back the loan at a 4% interest.
All the Money in the World will release in theaters on December 8.
