Superstar actor Kevin Spacey plays J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World, the blockbuster film directed by Ridley Scott due out 8 December. Spacey is unrecognisable in the role of the oil magnate who died in 1976 (the fabled patron founded the trust in his name which backs the Los Angeles-based Getty Center and Getty Villa). The movie centres around the abduction of his grandson, John Paul Getty III, in 1973 in Calabria. The saga is stranger than fiction; Getty senior refused to initially pay a ransom but four months after the kidnapping, a human ear and lock of red hair was sent to a newspaper in Rome along with a ransom note. According to the Los Angeles Times, John Paul Getty refused to pay up, saying:“I have 14 grandchildren, and if I pay one penny ransom, I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren” (he eventually coughed up $2.2m though).
In the frameblog
Kevin Spacey’s star turn as towering billionaire patron John Paul Getty
The actor dons prosthetics for the role in Ridley Scott’s kidnap drama
17 September 2017