Kevin Spacey’s star turn as towering billionaire patron John Paul Getty

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).