All the Money in the World

Episode Transcript
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Ashley (00:08):
Welcome to Criminal Adaptations, the show where we
take a look at some of yourfavorite movies and the true
crime stories that inspired them.
I'm Ashley.
I'm a clinical psychologist andforensic evaluator in the state
of Oregon.

Remi (00:21):
And I'm Remy.
I spent over a decade workingin the film and television
industry in Los Angeles,California.

Ashley (00:28):
Hello everyone, welcome back to your regularly scheduled
program of Criminal Adaptations.
I know we took a little bit ofa detour in between this episode
and our last of the Town thatDreaded sundown, but hopefully
everyone has had the chance tolisten to our bonus episode on
the life and tragic death ofJudith Barsi and found it as

(00:51):
interesting and honestly movingas we did.

Remi (00:55):
We had heard the story and were extremely moved by what we
heard and thought that it was avery necessary thing to share
with everybody.
But we are here to discusssomething completely different
today.
Ashley, would you like to saywhat we are discussing?

Ashley (01:14):
Today, we are talking about Ridley Scott's 2017 film
All the Money in the World,which is about the kidnapping of
John Paul Getty III and,honestly, about the rise of the
Getty family and also therepeated tragedies that their
wealth has brought upon them.

Remi (01:36):
Had you heard of this story before, Ashley?
Was this a story you were likefamiliar with?
Had you been in any wayacquainted to it for this
episode?

Ashley (01:47):
familiar with?
Had you been in any wayacquainted to it for this
episode?
I was well aware of the Gettykidnapping.
As I mentioned at the end ofour last episode, there was an
FX show called Trust thatfocused on the kidnapping.
I didn't know as much about howJean Paul Getty got his
billions, how Jean Paul Gettygot his billions John Paul Getty
.
John Paul Getty.
Yes, my bad.

Remi (02:08):
I know that from Jean-Luc Picard.

Ashley (02:13):
I didn't know much about how he came to be, but now I do
.
But with the kidnapping portionof this story, I was well aware
of the details, including themaiming that went on.

Remi (02:23):
I had not heard of this story at all, basically, but,
being from LA, I've been to theGetty Museum a number of times.
I remember back in college, meand my friends would park all
the way down in the parking lotthat was before the tram area,
because you had to pay forparking but the museum was free.
So we would park all the waydown pay for parking, but the

(02:46):
museum was free, so we wouldpark all the way down, way down.
It was about half a mile awayfrom the museum and then we'd
have to walk up the hill to theactual museum.
But the Getty Museum itself isan amazing museum.
But I had really never heard ofthis kidnapping or Jean Paul
Getty in general, actually.

Ashley (03:03):
Well, I will definitely get into a little bit about the
museum, including why it is free.
It is not because Jean PaulGetty wanted you to see all of
his furniture and art out of thegoodness of his heart.
It definitely does havesomething to do with tax
exemption.

Remi (03:21):
And it is an amazing museum.
If you're in Los Angeles oraround the Los Angeles area, I
highly recommend a trip to theGetty Museum.
But what about this movie?
Had you heard of this movie orany of the controversy, I guess,
that was surrounding it?

Ashley (03:38):
I had heard of the movie because after I watched the
miniseries I looked into thiscase a little bit more and the
movie had been out by then.
So I did know that it was withMark Wahlberg and Michelle
Williams, but I didn't know someof the controversy about the
recasting of the man himself,john Paul Getty.

(03:58):
The first.

Remi (04:00):
And that is one of the biggest things that I knew about
this movie going into it.
Actually, I remember being inLA when this trailer first was
released and it was Kevin Spaceyin the lead role and I remember
thinking that the movie lookedpretty good.
And then all of the controversyabout Kevin Spacey, which I

(04:22):
will say, off the record and onthe record fuck Kevin Spacey.
He's an asshole.
Off the record and on therecord, fuck Kevin Spacey.
He's an asshole and a horribleperson for what he's done.
But I could not believe theturnaround.
I remember the trailer came outand I think the movie came out
maybe like two months later andit was completely redone with a
different actor, which wassomething I had never seen

(04:42):
before.
So it was a very unusualproduction and one that really
garnered my attention at thetime because of what was going
on.

Ashley (04:52):
The only other thing I knew about the production before
we went into this episode isthrough the couple random movie
production podcasts that Ilistened to.
One of them had talked aboutthis specifically how the cast
had to come in to do theirreshoots because of the change
in casting, and the biggestthing that was touched upon with

(05:14):
that is the pay deferentialthat was given between Mark
Wahlberg and Michelle Williams.
She basically got nothing forher rewrites.

Remi (05:24):
We will get into that in just a little bit.
But there is a lot ofcontroversy around this film,
not around the subject matterbut more around the people
involved with the production andhow the production was carried
out.
But with all that, should wedive into this movie?

(05:45):
Ridley Scott's All the Money inthe World.

Ashley (05:48):
Yes, let's, and I hope at some point you kind of give
me a refresher on some of theother big blockbuster movies
that Ridley Scott has done,because I know he is a very
prominent, well-respecteddirector.

Remi (06:01):
He is a very, very well-respected director, but not
necessarily a director I feellike people who are not plugged
into the film industry are superaware of.
But I'll get into that in justa second.
Let's start off with thepre-production for All the Money
in the World.

(06:21):
All the Money in the World Allthe Money in the World is a 2017
film written by David Scarpaand directed by Ridley Scott.
The film stars MichelleWilliams, mark Wahlberg and
Christopher Plummer as John PaulGetty.
Screenwriter David Scarpa hadalways been fascinated by the

(06:42):
story of the Getty kidnappingdue to the fact that John Paul
Getty was literally the richestman in the world at the time,
yet still refused to pay for theransom of his grandson.

Ashley (06:55):
He was the richest American in the world, because
you can't count the like sultansand people like that that come
from more than generations,generations upon generations,
upon generations, upongenerations of government wealth
.
But, yes, he was insanely rich.

Remi (07:13):
That is true.
Whenever I say richest man inthe world, I guess I am
referring to the richest man inAmerica at the time.

Ashley (07:22):
And I'm pretty sure, if you take out people like sultans
or kings and things like that,he would have been the richest
man that didn't come fromroyalty in the world, because he
actually really is a.
Well, I'll say his father is aself-made millionaire, but John
Getty is a self-made billionaire.

Remi (07:42):
Once the script had been completed, it found its way into
the hands of Sir Ridley Scott,the famed director of such
cinematic classics as BladeRunner, alien and.
Gladiator.
Have you seen any of thesemovies, Ashley?

Ashley (07:57):
I've seen all three of those movies and I'm not really
sure what one is my favorite.
They're all very different.
Maybe this is the Titanic fanin me, but I prefer Alien 2 over
Alien 1.
I did like Gladiator, but I'mnot as obsessed with it as I
know a lot of people are, sonone of those movies, in my

(08:18):
opinion, are ones that I'mputting on again and again and
again to watch.
What are some of his ones,since Gladiator?

Remi (08:29):
Personally speaking, out of those three, gladiator is my
favorite.
But out of all of the movies inhis repertoire, I would be
surprised to say that MatchstickMen is my favorite of his films
.
It is a smaller film he didwith Nicolas Cage and it
involves con men, it has SamRockwell and there is a twist

(08:50):
ending and, yeah, I reallyreally like this film.
And he's done a lot of otheroffbeat films like that.
He did Thelma and Louise.
He's done many, many movies.
He does like two movies a year.
It is crazy how prolific thisguy is and he's like 80 years
old now and he's still doingthis.

Ashley (09:11):
Okay, so I'm looking at some of his movies now.
I love Matchstick Men.
It's probably one of myfavorite Nicolas Cage movies he
did do of some of the ones he'ddone.
Recently he did that last Duelmovie that went completely under
the radar because of COVID andthat movie was phenomenal.

Remi (09:29):
Criminally underrated movie Adam Driver Matt Damon
even.
Ben Affleck as the king.
It's a really, really goodmovie and nobody saw it.

Ashley (09:42):
And Eve from what was that show?

Remi (09:44):
Killing.

Ashley (09:44):
Eve.
Yes, that movie was so good.
Okay, so he's also doneAmerican Gangster, which we
watched recently.

Remi (09:52):
And is on our list for later seasons.
Denzel Washington is amazing inthat film.

Ashley (09:59):
Black Hawk Down Hannibal GI Jane.

Remi (10:02):
I have never seen Black Hawk Down, but I have seen
Hannibal and GI Jane all greatfilms.
His resume is really impressive.
He is very, very active.
For a director, he basicallynever stops.
Ridley Scott was attracted tothe project because of Scarpa's

(10:24):
script stating I just consumedit.
I knew about the kidnapping,but this story was very
provocative.
Gale Getty was all exceptionalcharacters and there are many
facets of the man Getty thatmake him a really great study.
There's this great dynamic.
It's like a play and not amovie.

(10:46):
All the Money in the World isalso one of the rare few film
projects by Scott not tooriginate from his own initial
conception, meaning he didn'tthink of this idea by himself
and he was just so into it thathe needed to make this film.
As the project was indevelopment, natalie Portman was

(11:06):
offered the role of Gail Harrisbut had to decline because she
was pregnant with her secondchild at the time.

Ashley (11:14):
I could have seen her as Gail.
I think she would have done agood job.
I love Michelle Williams and Ihave a feeling she also did a
phenomenal job, but I could haveseen Natalie Portman in this
role.

Remi (11:25):
I agree, but I do just have to highlight that I think
Michelle Williams really did geta raw deal in this production.
I'll get into it a little bitmore later, but she was not the
first pick and she was treatedlike not the first pick.

Ashley (11:40):
So you think that if it would have been Natalie Portman,
she wouldn't have gotten asfucked over as Michelle Williams
did?

Remi (11:47):
Yes, absolutely.
I do agree.
I think that is exactly whatwould have happened.
I think Natalie Portman, in thepublic mind frame, is
considered a higher valueactress than Michelle Williams.
Michelle Williams is aphenomenal actress and by far
the most successful person toever come from Dawson's Creek,

(12:09):
but she is not a named actress.
She is not someone that if yousay her name to the general
public it immediately sparksinterest because people are just
not as familiar with her.
She's never done like a bigblockbuster or anything like
that familiar with her.
She's never done like a bigblockbuster or anything like
that besides Venom.

Ashley (12:26):
But I'm not even going to count that.
Well, in the TV series, Galewas played by Hilary Swank.

Remi (12:31):
I've not seen any footage from the real person that
Michelle Williams is playing inthis Gale, but I feel like she
did a great job.
But I would look to you toconfirm that or not.

(12:52):
Apparently, there's not a lotof media with Gale in it that is
readily available to the public.
Currently, in another bit ofcasting, jack Nicholson was
originally offered the lead roleof John Paul Getty, but also
declined due to his retirementfrom acting his retirement from
acting.
In the end, Michelle Williamsand Kevin Spacey were cast in
the lead roles of Gail Harrisand J Paul Getty respectively.
Scott stated when I read thescript I started thinking who

(13:15):
was Paul Getty?
In my mind I saw Kevin Spacey.
Kevin's a brilliant actor, butI've never worked with him and I
always knew I would have tohave him portray Getty in this
film.

Ashley (13:30):
Does he say why he chose Kevin Spacey despite the insane
age difference?
I mean, John Paul Getty issupposed to be like 80 at the
time of this kidnapping.
Is it just because Kevin Spaceyis so good at playing like
diabolical men that just seemlike just so evil inside?

Remi (14:06):
had a lot to do with the fact that Kevin Spacey was a
very popular, very successful,academy Award winning actor when
he was cast in this role.
Not knocking ChristopherPlummer at all, but, like I was
saying earlier, kevin Spacey wasone of those names that if you
said that to an everyday personwalking down the street, they
would probably know who he wascompared to Michelle Williams.

Ashley (14:25):
But the age difference is like 25 years here.
But on the other hand, when youthink about Kevin Spacey's
iconic roles, the ones that cometo mind for me personally are
House of Cards, the UsualSuspects and Seven, and he is
just so good at playing thispsychopath but also someone that

(14:48):
you're not actively hating andwanting to turn off, which I do
think fits with the character ofJohn Paul Getty.
But still, the age difference.
He should have never casted himin this role.

Remi (15:00):
I do remember seeing the original trailer with Kevin
Spacey with his prostheticmakeup and thinking that it
looked a little odd.
And you know, with the benefitof hindsight I can say that
Christopher Plummer does make alot more sense in this role, him
being older than Kevin Spaceywas.
But we will get into all of thatin just a moment.

(15:23):
Regarding Michelle Williams,ridley Scott admitted that while
she wasn't his first choice, hefound her to be extremely
intelligent and assertive, in asimilar vein to the real-life
Gail Harris.
You will have to tell me ifthat is true or not, but
Williams, who was unfamiliarwith the true story, read

(15:44):
several books on the subject andbased the majority of her
performance on just three videoclips of Harris she was able to
find on YouTube.
Williams described herpreparation for the role as a
two-part process to create thecharacter, with the first part
involving dry research, thenfilling in the gaps with her own

(16:07):
imagination based on what shehad learned.
Mark Wahlberg, who had alwayswanted to work with Ridley Scott
, accepted the role of FletcherChase the moment it was offered
to him, despite recentlypromising his wife that he would
take a break from acting tospend more time with his family.
I guess, if Ridley Scott comescalling, you take the call, no

(16:29):
matter what.

Ashley (16:30):
In the TV show.
This role was played by BrendanFraser.

Remi (16:34):
I wish he had played it in this film too.
Honestly, I would preferBrendan Fraser to Mark Wahlberg
any day.
Call me crazy.

Ashley (16:42):
Well, and this show came out in 2018, so it came out a
year after.
This is before.
Brendan Fraser has now kind ofhad his re-uppens from the Whale
and Killers of the Flower Moon,so he was on a hiatus at this
point and he did a killer job inthis series.

Remi (17:13):
His resurgence, I guess, would be the word Sure, sure,
sure.
Regarding his character, MarkWahlberg has stated him there
wasn't a single image of him, noimages whatsoever.
A former CIA guy, I guess hecan make a lot of things go away
.
You'd think he'd have written abook and he'd be there with a
big smile on his face on thecover.

(17:35):
Instead, there was very littleinformation other than his
background.

Ashley (17:41):
Once I kind of tell you about Fletcher chase's role in
all this kidnapping, it's gonnamake a little more sense of why
he's not this prominent figure.
He had so little to do withanything at all well.

Remi (17:54):
The little information walberg was able to dig up was
that fletcher chase was captainof the crew team at harvard,
worked at the CIA and was J PaulGetty's right-hand man.
In late October of 2017,numerous sexual misconduct

(18:14):
allegations were made againstKevin Spacey, and the film's
premiere at the AFI Fest,scheduled for November 16th, was
cancelled as a result.
On November 9th, it wasannounced that Reach Shoots had
been scheduled to replace KevinSpacey with Christopher Plummer
in the role of J Paul Getty.

(18:35):
Despite his previouslycontradictory statements, Ridley
Scott now claimed thatChristopher Plummer had always
been his original choice for therole, but it was the studio
executives that had persuadedhim to cast Kevin Spacey instead
.

Ashley (18:52):
How convenient.

Remi (19:01):
We will not be getting into the nitty gritty details of
the Kevin Spacey scandal duringthis episode, unless they make
a future true crime movie on it.

Ashley (19:06):
There is a really good documentary right now on HBO Max
I think, because it waspartnered with ID Discovery or
something like that, but itincludes I think it's like three
parts and it includes all theinformation or not all a lot of
the information you would wantto know about what Kevin Spacey
did or is accused of doing, andI highly recommend, if you want

(19:29):
to know more about it, to watchit.
It's very, very enlightening.
It is very disturbing.
So go to HBO Max, type in KevinSpacey and get all the
information you want about itfrom there.

Remi (19:40):
Christopher Plummer got the call from Ridley Scott just
before he was about to go onvacation to Florida, but delayed
his plan so that Scott couldfly from London to New York to
speak with Plummer face-to-faceregarding the role.
Plummer had always been a fanof Scott's which seems to be a

(20:01):
recurring trend here and waseager to work with him, but
still told the legendarydirector that he would need to
read the script first, despiteknowing full well that he would
be accepting the part, even ifthe script was utterly
horrendous.
Christopher Plummer had lessthan two weeks to memorize his

(20:21):
lines, but did have theadvantage of meeting John Paul
Getty personally at a few of hisparties back in London in the
early 1960s, so some first-handexperience there.

Ashley (20:34):
They must have both been living in London.
Yeah.

Remi (20:37):
I believe.
So I do not know whereChristopher Plummer is born off
the top of my head or originatesfrom.
58-year-old Kevin Spacey hadinitially worn facial
prosthetics for his portrayal ofJay Getty, who was 80 years old
at the time of his grandson'skidnapping, whereas Christopher

(20:57):
Plummer, who was 88 at the time,had no need for any additional
makeup applications, so thatmust have been convenient.
After Plummer had been cast,director Ridley Scott chose not
to show him any footage of KevinSpacey in character and never
revealed how Spacey hadoriginally chosen to play the

(21:19):
same scenes.
As a result, scott found bothperformances to be decisively
different, yet equally effectivein their own way, with Spacey
portraying Getty as much morecold and unfeeling compared to
how Plummer portrayed him.

Ashley (21:36):
I know this will never happen, but it would be really
interesting if there would evercome a time where there would be
some sort of release ofSpacey's portrayal his version
of the movie, I guess.

Remi (21:49):
I would love that, and literally, it seems like the
only footage of Kevin Spacey inthis role that has survived is
from that initial trailer whereI think he literally says one
word.
I think he literally says oneword, and it is just no.
And I would just be fascinatedto compare their performances.

Ashley (22:11):
Because it does seem that this role is right up
Spacey's alley.

Remi (22:15):
It really does.
And, again, not supportingKevin Spacey at all.
He is a piece of shit and he isone of those actors that I have
trouble watching his filmstoday because of what he has
done is a piece of shit and heis one of those actors that I
have trouble watching his filmstoday because of what he has
done, but he is someone thatseems like, even though he
wasn't the right age, would fitthis character really well.
He had a cold-heartedness tohim that I do think suited this

(22:41):
character.
Christopher Plummer hascommented on his acting choices
for the role by stating I triedto give him as much warmth as I
possibly could in my performance.
If you just played him blackand white as a villain, you
would lose the audience.
The decision to re-film KevinSpacey's footage with Plummer

(23:03):
also meant that 22 scenes had tobe re-shot.
Spacey had worked on the filmfor 10 days, while re-shoots
with Plummer lasted only 9 days,but added another $10 million
to the film's final productionbudget.
Once the re-shoots had beencompleted, only a single shot of

(23:23):
Kevin Spacey remained in thefinal version of the film.
Though his face is not clearlyvisible, I still spotted him
when I was watching this film.

Ashley (23:33):
Point it out when you're going over the movie.

Remi (23:36):
The scene features Spacey in a wide shot disembarking a
train in the middle of thedesert a train in the middle of
the desert.
But they claim it would be toofar away and too expensive to
reshoot on such a tight deadline.
It was initially reported thatthe other actors had filmed
their scenes for the reshootscompletely free of charge, but

(23:58):
it was later revealed that MarkWahlberg had actually been paid
$1.5 million, while MichelleWilliams received just $80 in
per diems.

Ashley (24:12):
That is disgusting.
I don't know whose choice itwas to approve that.
I'm assuming it was theproduction company or the
producers, but shame on them.
$80 when her co-host who, mindyou, is hardly a footnote in
this whole story got over amillion dollars.

Remi (24:32):
It gets worse.
And I will say MichelleWilliams is the star of this
movie.
She is the main character.
Mark Wahlberg and ChristopherPlummer are supporting
characters, and this film isentirely centered around her
performance.
So it is a travesty that shewas paid and offered as little

(24:53):
as she was.
Mark Wahlberg's initial fee forthe shoot was reportedly $5
million, while his co-star,michelle Williams, had allegedly
only been paid $625,000,despite having higher billing
and a much larger role and,being a sorry, Mark Wahlberg a

(25:17):
better actor.
I think Michelle Williams is,head over heels, a much better
actor than Mark Wahlberg.
But is she a bigger name actor?
That's probably not the case.
Wahlberg's contract alsoallowed him final approval of
his co-stars and apparentlyrefused to approve Christopher

(25:38):
Plummer as Kevin Spacey'sreplacement unless he was paid
an additional compensation.
However, once news of thisgender disparity in the actor's
pay got leaked to the public,mark Wahlberg decided to donate
his entire reshoot salary inMichelle Williams' name to the

(25:58):
Time's Up Legal Defense Fund,which provides legal and media
support to individuals who havebeen subjected to workplace
sexual harassment.
I mean, that's the least he cando, and it's only because he
got caught.
Let's be honest here.
When Wahlberg finally returnedfor the reshoots, all of his

(26:19):
costumes had to be refitted,since he had lost an estimated
30 pounds for his next film rolein the movie Mile 22, which I
have never heard of or seen, andit is very noticeable in many
scenes of this film he changesweights between shots.
Wahlberg also decided to playhis character's final scene with

(26:40):
John Paul Getty as angrier andmore confrontational than he had
done originally with KevinSpacey.
The first footage ofChristopher Plummer in the lead
role of Jay Getty was releasedon the same exact day that
filming on the reshoots had beencompleted.
And with that, are you ready toget into Ridley Scott's All the

(27:06):
Money in the World, ashley?

Ashley (27:08):
Woof, I suppose that was a heavy, heavy pre-production
segment.

Remi (27:14):
Seriously, it's one of the more intricate ones that I've
had to research for this show,but let's get into it.
Rome 1973.

(27:37):
16-year-old John Paul Getty III,played by Charlie Plummer not
Christopher Plummer casuallystrolls through the bustling
streets of Rome one evening,smoking a cigarette while
enjoying the city's ambiance.
As Paul is making his waythrough the crowded streets, he
suddenly finds himself on adeserted street walking alone.

(27:59):
Moments later, paul is ambushedwhen a van appears out of
nowhere and Paul is abducted bymembers of a mafia-esque
organized crime group known asthe Andragida.
July 10th 1973.
We see John Paul Getty, playedby Christopher Plummer, going

(28:20):
over his morning stock reports,surrounded by priceless works of
art adorning his extravagantlylarge mansion.
Getty's musings are interrupted, however, when he is informed
by one of his many assistantsthat his grandson, paul, has
been kidnapped.
Yet Getty seems completelyunfazed by this unsettling news.

(28:43):
Through Paul's narration, weare told that John Paul Getty
was the richest man in thehistory of the world at the time
of his son's kidnapping,although that is up for debate.

Ashley (28:57):
Yes, grandson's kidnapping, and he was named by
the Guinness Book of WorldRecords as the richest American
to ever live.

Remi (29:05):
Flashing back to Saudi Arabia 1948, we watch as a much
younger Jay Getty arrives in thedesert by train for a meeting
with the Bedouin tribes,resulting in Getty becoming the
very first US businessman inhistory to successfully
negotiate a deal for oildrilling rights in Saudi Arabia.

(29:30):
And this is the one scene withKevin Spacey that remains in the
film, the part where he isgetting off the train.

Ashley (29:38):
Which is so funny because John Getty never stepped
foot in Saudi Arabia.
He bought this land sightunseen and never went there.

Remi (29:48):
That is funny.
You needed the visual.
I guess that's why they did it.
By 1958, getty had unearthed somuch oil that he had to
commission the construction of asupertanker out of the Toulon
shipyard in France to transportlarger quantities of his surplus

(30:10):
.
We then cut to San Francisco in1964, where we are introduced to
Gail Harris, played by MichelleWilliams, and her husband John
Paul Getty Jr, played by AndrewBuchan, as they are rudely
awakened by a trio of smallchildren hopping on their

(30:31):
parents' bed and demandingattention.
Later that night, while gatheredaround the Christmas tree, jr
confides in Gail that his ownfather never even gave him a
single Christmas card orbirthday card while he was
growing up and regrets that heand his father never had a

(30:51):
closer relationship.
It doesn't seem like his fatherwas trying very hard, since the
family was currently strugglingfinancially.
Gail encourages her husband towrite his estranged father a
letter in an attempt toreconnect by asking for a job at
Getty Oil.
Junior receives a telegramresponse from his father not

(31:13):
long after, requesting his son'spresence in Rome to meet
face-to-face and discuss apotential job opportunity.
Job opportunity.
Enticed by the offer, junioralong with his entire family are
flown directly to Rome viaprivate jet and arrive at
Getty's immense 16th centuryItalian villa shortly after.

(31:36):
Upon entering theirgrandfather's abode, the
children are awestruck by thelavish interiors exuding a level
of wealth and power beyond anymere mortal's understanding.

Ashley (31:50):
Yeah, the Gettys weren't rich, they were wealthy, and
I'll never forget thedistinction, when I first heard
about it, between someone beingrich and someone being wealthy.
When someone is wealthy, theyhave more money that they can't
get rid of it in their lifetime.

Remi (32:07):
To the family's surprise, they discover Jay Getty Sr doing
his own laundry and quicklyputs the family at ease.
By making light of his affluentfirst impression, we quickly
learn that Jay Getty is anexceptionally shrewd and frugal
man, even going as far aswashing his own laundry to save

(32:31):
an additional $10 cleaning feefrom his maids.
That is stingy.
Getty also gives his grandsonPaul a $1.2 million Minotaur
figurine as a new toy, but onlyafter sharing the following
story.

J. Paul Getty (32:51):
Would you care to guess how much I paid for it?
Oh, I couldn't possibly $11.23.
I picked it up at the blackmarket in Heraklion.
Some old cripple wanted to ask$19 for it.
It took me one hour to bringhim down to his bottom line.

(33:12):
Thus today at auction, I hazardit could bring $1.2 million.

Ashley (33:21):
So this is a very, very good depiction of what Getty's
kind of bottom line was.
He had so much money, but hewas also very, very stingy.
So while he did have theseextravagant purchases, he would
only buy things if he couldconvince himself that it would

(33:41):
continue to appreciate in valuehimself, that it would continue
to appreciate in value.
So this is a very good exampleof how he bought something for
$11 and what?
40 years later it was a milliondollars.

Remi (33:52):
This story comes back in the end as well, but I just love
the whole idea of a billionairearguing with someone selling
this for $19 and he's spent anhour to get it down to what he
did.
Like dude, it's 20 bucks.

Ashley (34:12):
By the time he bought that he wasn't a billionaire,
but he probably was amillionaire.

Remi (34:18):
He could afford a $20 Minotaur figurine.
I think that is the point.
Why would you spend an hour ofyour life doing this?

Ashley (34:27):
Especially during the time of the Great Depression,
where most of America wasstruggling, but the Gettys
certainly were not.

Remi (34:35):
That makes it even crazier .

Ashley (34:37):
It does say a lot about him, about his personality and
his values, but one thing youcannot argue, and one thing that
should be a big takeaway fromthis episode, is John Paul Getty
was a phenomenal businessman.

Remi (34:52):
Though the family reunion appears jovial, there is
nevertheless still an air oftension and unease that seems to
emanate throughout the entireroom.
During brunch the followingmorning, getty has Paul dictate
mail from desperate strangerswho have written letters to

(35:14):
Getty begging for financialassistance in order to pay for
various hardships.
Rather than showing even thefaintest hint of compassion,
getty instead, despite the factthat Junior is grossly

(35:47):
underqualified for the positionand would also be replacing
Getty's current VP.
As a result, getty and hisgrandson Paul grow close over
time and at one point Getty evenconfides in Paul that he
believes that he was the emperorof Hadrian in a previous life.
A little delusional, but okay.

Ashley (36:10):
I wouldn't even say it's delusional, I would just say
it's narcissistic.
Tomato, tomato.

Remi (36:16):
Years later, in August of 1971, a now teenage Paul has
just tracked down his father toan exotic opium den in Morocco,
where he discovers Junior passedout with another woman and is
far too sedated for any verbalcommunication.
Back in San Francisco thefollowing month, getty and

(36:39):
Junior's wife Gail sit acrossfrom one another at an elongated
table in a desaturated room,amidst a sea of attorneys, to
discuss the details of her andJunior's impending divorce.
To Getty's astonishment, gailoffers to waive any personal
financial compensation she isentitled to as long as Getty

(37:03):
agrees to pay for child supportand she is given full custody of
the children.

Ashley (37:10):
moving forward, and this is true.
This was the terms of theirdivorce settlement, which I
think says a lot about Gail'scharacter.

Remi (37:18):
Well, never one to pass up a good deal.
Getty gladly agrees to Gail'soffer.
We then return to southernItaly, in the town of Calabria
in July of 1973.
Paul is driven to a remoterural location with a bag over
his head, then locked in a dingycell by his captors who wear

(37:42):
masks to conceal their identity.
Cell by his captors who wearmasks to conceal their identity.
The kidnappers then call Paul'smother from a payphone,
informing her that they have herson held hostage and demand a
17 million dollar ransom for hisrelease.
When Gail protests, claimingthat she doesn't have that kind

(38:02):
of money, the kidnappers adviseGail to ask her father-in-law,
because he has all the money inthe world.

Ashley (38:10):
That's so funny.
In my part I have this exactsame scene written out and it's
written the exact same.

Remi (38:18):
That is hilarious, heeding their advice.
Gail makes repeated attempts tocontact Jay Getty to discuss
Paul's kidnapping, but Getty isconsistently unavailable.
Much to her surprise, gail seesGetty live on TV one day
fielding questions fromreporters regarding his

(38:38):
grandson's kidnapping anddirectly stating that he does
not intend on paying Paul'sransom, regardless of the amount
.
Aghast at Getty's dismissal ofPaul's ransom, gale travels to
England to speak with Jay Gettyface-to-face at Getty Estate.
While waiting in the foyer,gale briefly meets a Getty Oil

(39:02):
negotiator and former CIAoperative named Fletcher Chase,
played by Mark Wahlberg, who hasjust been summoned from Saudi
Arabia for an urgent meetingwith Getty, who is currently
drinking a Bloody Mary, watchingsome skeet shooting out in the
backyard and just enjoyinghimself as a rich billionaire

(39:23):
without a care in the world.
Fletcher is then brought tospeak with Getty and the two men
partake in an afternoon strollwhere we learn that Fletcher was
previously married three timesbut has no children.
During their conversation,getty confidentially confides
that he truly does miss hisgrandson and instructs Fletcher

(39:46):
to fly to Rome and bring Paulback as quickly and
inexpensively as possible.
When Fletcher inevitablyreturns from his meeting, he
formally introduces himself toGail, informing her that he will
be the man in charge of findingher son, despite Gail's
lobbying for Getty to just paythe ransom.

(40:09):
Back in Rome, gail is mobbed byreporters, with Fletcher by her
side, as she gives a statementto the media pleading for her
son's release.
Gail is then brought to meetwith the lead investigator on
the case, who reveals that thepolice have received dozens of
letters from around the world,all claiming to be Paul's

(40:32):
kidnappers, making it extremelydifficult to decipher which one,
if any, are actually legitimate.
Gitter also puts Gail underpolice protection for her own
safety, with a mini base ofoperations for the investigation
being set up in Gail's home,much to her dismay.

(40:52):
Meanwhile, in Calabria, paulshares a joint with one of his
captors, as the kidnappertheorizes why Paul's family has
not paid the ransom.
Theorizes why Paul's family hasnot paid the ransom.
Paul is then instructed to writea letter to his mother
reiterating the urgency ofpaying the 17 million dollar

(41:12):
ransom sooner rather than later.
Otherwise the kidnappers willcut off one of Paul's fingers.
Returning to Rome, Fletcher hasa covert meeting in a motel
room with a group of communistsclaiming to have planned the
entire kidnapping, with Paul asan accomplice, several years ago
in order to extort money fromJohn Paul Getty.

(41:35):
However, the communists nowbelieve that Paul has carried
out this plan with another groupwithout their inclusion.
Taking the communists at theirword, Fletcher immediately
brings this new information backto Jay Getty, who is not
surprised but nevertheless stillfeels betrayed.

J. Paul Getty (41:55):
That's why I like things.
You see Things, objects,artifacts, paintings, and they
are exactly what they appear tobe.
They never change, they neverdisappoint.
There is a purity to beautifulthings that I've never been able

(42:18):
to find in another human being.

Remi (42:22):
Getty then instructs Fletcher to return to Rome and
wait for Paul's return.
And on a personal side notehere, all of Christopher
Plummer's scenes are by far thebest scenes in this entire film.
I just feel like I need to givethis dude props, because he
really nailed this performanceon an incredibly short time

(42:47):
frame.

Ashley (42:49):
So I've read the book that this movie was based on.
He's giving the same vibes ofwho he was as a person and also
based on the show that I sawthat Donald Sutherland is
playing John Paul Getty, andhe's giving the exact same
performance and they both looklike the real John Paul Getty.
And he's giving the exact sameperformance and they both look
like the real John Paul Getty.

Remi (43:10):
And I just have to point out that Christopher Plummer has
played a lot of similar evil,rich person who hates his family
type roles.
He did it in Knives Out, whichhe was a great in, and the first
girl with the dragon tattoofilm as well, but I honestly
think this is his greatest evilbillionaire performance among

(43:36):
them all.
If anyone out there is aSimpsons fan, he reminds me so
much of Mr Burns in this movie.
Months pass until one day whenFletcher gets a call from the
police informing him that theyhave discovered Paul's charred
corpse submerged in seawater,but they will need Gail to come

(43:58):
and identify the body.

Ashley (44:00):
This escalated quickly.
This escalated quickly.

Remi (44:02):
Gail is relieved to find that the body is not actually
her son's but that of a33-year-old Andraghita member
who is likely involved withPaul's kidnapping.
Based on the deceased's knownassociates, the police are able
to determine a possible locationwhere Paul is being held.

(44:22):
So the Italian civil policeforce known as the Carabria, are
brought in to head down southto Calabria to conduct a raid.
I hope you all are keeping allof these names straight somehow,
because I'm having trouble.
As the Carabria surround theperimeter with firearms drawn, a

(44:43):
shootout ensues, resulting inthe death of two kidnappers,
while the last is mortallywounded.
Though it is confirmed that Paulwas held at this location at
some point, we soon learn thatPaul has been sold to a much
more intimidating and debonairmember of the Malavita crime

(45:05):
family named Mamaliti.
During Fletcher's next meetingwith Mr Getty, he relays the
news that Paul's kidnapping wasnot a hoax and has become much
more serious now that theMalavita are involved.
Fletcher urges Getty to relentand finally pay the ransom to
ensure Paul's safety, but Gettystill insists that he hasn't a

(45:29):
penny to spare, despite the lifton a recent oil embargo, which
has literally made John PaulGetty the richest man in the
world.
Sometime later, gale receives aphone call from the Malavita and
Fletcher steps in to negotiateon behalf of Mr Getty.

(45:49):
Fletcher tells the kidnappersthat Paul is a juvenile
delinquent whom his familydoesn't even want.
So Getty's final offer for hisgrandson's return is a paltry
$200,000 to cover thekidnapper's expenses.
Insulted by this proposal, thekidnapper hangs up, leaving Gail

(46:13):
dumbfounded and understandablyfurious with Fletcher's stern
negotiation tactics.
After a swift punch to the face, fletcher confesses that he was

(46:38):
really bluffing and has notactually been authorized to give
the Malavita any moneywhatsoever, including the
$200,000.
Luckily, gale receives anotherphone call from the kidnappers
later that night, lowering theransom to a much more reasonable
$7 million.
Around this time, jay Gettypurchases himself a rare stolen
painting in cash for the heftyfee of $1.5 million, though he's

(46:59):
not thrilled about the price.

Ashley (47:02):
This is why he doesn't have a single penny to spare
about the price.

Remi (47:06):
This is why he doesn't have a single penny to spare.
He's spending it all onpriceless, stolen works of art.
Of course that's totallyreasonable.
I understand why he was lettinghis grandson be tortured for
that reason.

Ashley (47:16):
A rare stolen piece of artwork can appreciate in value,
a kidnapping ransom cannot.

Remi (47:22):
It gets worse, but I digress.
Meanwhile, paul, who has becomeincreasingly impatient with his
delayed liberation, manages tocreate a small fire just outside
of the barn where he iscurrently being held captive.
As the growing flames diverthis captor's attention, paul
successfully breaks through thedoor of his confinement with a

(47:46):
rusty old wheelbarrow and makesa mad dash run to freedom.
Paul frantically flees throughthe night, dirty, desperate,
weak and barefoot, until hestumbles upon a lonesome road
where he is eventually picked upby a local police officer.
Paul is escorted back to theofficer's home, where Paul is

(48:11):
given a warm meal while theofficer makes a phone call in
the other room.
Paul is then allowed to callhis mother, gail, who is both
flabbergasted and relieved tofinally hear from her son, until
the line suddenly goes deadafter it is revealed that the
police officer is actually anassociate of the Malavita, and
Paul is promptly returned to hiscaptors.

(48:35):
After the incident, the Malavitadeliberate killing Paul to cut
their losses after all thetrouble he's caused.
But Mamaliti has another idea.
After hearing her son's voicefor the first time in months,
gail has an epiphany andrealizes that she may have a way
to pay for Paul's ransomwithout John Paul Getty's

(48:57):
involvement, gail beginsfrantically searching every
corner of Paul's room until shefinally uncovers the minotaur
figure Geddy had given to Paulduring their first meeting many
years ago.
With a newfound sense of hopeinstilled, gail brings the
minotaur to Sotheby's in Romefor appraisal, but is devastated

(49:20):
after learning that theminotaur is in fact just a
worthless trinket sold in giftshops around the country, only
costing around $15.
We then cut back to Paul, whois given alcohol by his
kidnappers and told that adoctor will be removing his ear.
Paul tries to fight but ischloroformed into

(49:43):
unconsciousness, then carriedinto another room where his body
is placed on a kitchen tableand his ear is surgically
removed using a straight razor.

Ashley (49:52):
And it's like the whole ear right, not like the tip,
it's the entire thing.

Remi (50:02):
It is the entire thing movie.
I don't know if this happenedin real life, but in the movie
he wakes up briefly because ofthe pain and then passes out
again because of the pain.

Ashley (50:12):
From what I read, they didn't chloroform him.
Basically.
They got him hammered on brandyand they gave him like a cloth
to bite on, but they did likecut off his entire ear, the
entire thing, which would be soincredibly painful and so prone
to infection, given hisenvironment.

Remi (50:31):
I could not imagine what this poor teenager teenager was
going through during all of this, Like, oh my God, he was so
young.

Ashley (50:42):
He's 16 years old and in his mind and in his entire
family's mind, he's hisgrandfather's favorite grandson
and there's nothing that can bedone to get him out of the
situation.
He was probably so afraid.

Remi (50:58):
A Polaroid copy of Paul shortly after the procedure with
the ear itself are then mailedto an Italian newspaper.
Gail is called in to meet withthe newspaper editors, who offer
her $50,000 copies of theimpending newspaper itself as a
form of payment, with each copybeing sent directly to John Paul

(51:29):
Getty's doorstep.

Ashley (51:31):
Oh, that is good.
I didn't hear anything aboutthis.
There's a lot of details ofthis kidnapping that now I'm
thinking about it.
I should have tried to findmore, because there's a lot here
that was not in the book thatthis movie is supposedly based
on.
But if this did happen, this isa fucking power move I love
gail.

Remi (51:51):
She is such a badass bitch in this to save her son, and
she is the only person doing soin this family.

Ashley (52:12):
That is the richest family in the entire world.

Remi (52:15):
Could you imagine being in this position where you are a
mother with your son and thefather of your son whom you are
now divorced?
His grandfather is literally abillionaire and your son is
being held captive for 17million dollars, which to a
billionaire that is like nothing.

(52:38):
That's like filling up your gastank 17 million for a
billionaire.
I couldn't imagine what thiswoman was going through.
Such frustration, such anger.
Oh my God.
I really hope this happened.
I'm doubtful it did, but I justcould not in a million years,

(52:59):
imagine what this woman wasfeeling throughout all of this.
Like he could do it, he couldfree your son and he just
fucking won't fuck this oldbillionaire, fuck him and it's
not only that, it's even themedia.

Ashley (53:15):
She is not getting any help from anyone.
The media thinks it's a hoaxthe Mark Wahlberg character in
this even though he's definitelyportrayed better in the movie
than he is in real life, hethinks it's a hoax.
The husband, which they haven'ttalked about in this movie at
all.
He's drug addicted and justnon-existent.

Remi (53:37):
They basically write him off as being a drug addict very
early on in the film and he's anon-factor for the rest of the
film.

Ashley (53:46):
And the police can't find any leads, so they also
just think this is all fake.
So it is literally just thiswoman fighting for her son,
whose ear has now been mailed,and this is kind of, finally,
what causes her to be likeanyone.
Believe me now.

Remi (54:04):
Well, luckily for Gail, following repeated negotiations
with the captors after thisincident, the ransom is
eventually lowered to a muchmore reasonable $4 million.
Gail's newspaper plan proveseffective, however, as she
receives a phone call not longafter from one of Getty's

(54:25):
representatives informing herthat Getty has finally agreed to
pay for Paul's ransom.
But she must return to Londonfirst to meet with Mr Getty
face-to-face to iron out all thedetails.

Ashley (54:39):
If I were her, I would be so mad because, in all
actuality, she's been trying tocontact him this entire time,
which I don't think this meetingever happened.
Basically, she was trying tocontact him and talk to him face
to face or just over the phonethis whole time, and he refused
all her phone calls and neverreturned them.

Remi (54:58):
The movie also portrays that she calls him repeatedly,
she tries going to his estate,and he just ignores her time and
time again.
It is so fucked up.
When Gail arrives for hermeeting, she is surprised to see
that her ex-husband, jr, isalso there in attendance.
Getty then reveals that, sinceransom payments are not

(55:22):
considered deductible under thetax code, he will instead be
loaning the money to his son,junior so that Gettys can write
off the interest of the ransom,essentially using Paul's
kidnapping as a tax deduction.

Ashley (55:38):
World's greatest grandfather here people in
exchange junior will be givenfull custody and parental rights
over all of their children,including paul I omit this for
my portion, but he did initiallyask to agree to pay his portion
of the ransom which he paid,which is a little different than

(55:59):
how it's depicted right here.
But he did originally ask forcustody, but then he quickly
rescinded.

Remi (56:06):
We will get to that in just a minute.
But with no other options, gailreluctantly signs the agreement
to save her son's life.

Ashley (56:16):
Also as a side note, which I do mention in my part.
At this time, when he is askingfor full custody of all of his
kids, gail is also the primarycustodian of a child he had with
his wife after her because hecouldn't care for her.
So Gail was like thistwo-year-old kid would be better

(56:40):
suited living with theirsiblings.
I will look after your childwith another woman out of the
goodness of my soul.
And then this motherfucker sayssure, I'll pay to save our
16-year-old from a kidnappingand maybe walk out of the
situation with at least one earintact if you give me custody of
all of our kids, including minewith another woman.

Remi (57:04):
You are jumping the gun on this one, but we will get into
all of those details more injust a minute.

Ashley (57:12):
I couldn't hold it in.
It's just like so infuriating.

Remi (57:16):
Well, this will probably piss you off a lot more because,
unfortunately, once all of thecontracts have been signed, a
loophole is discovered statingthat Getty is only required to
loan up to the amount that istax deductible, and under the US
tax code, only the firstmillion dollars qualifies for

(57:39):
deduction.
So that is the exact amountthat Getty wires for the ransom.
As a result, during Gail's nextphone call with the kidnappers,
she is regrettably forced toonly offer $1 million of the $4
million ransom.
So in return, the kidnappersoffer Gail a quarter of her son

(58:02):
for a quarter of the ransom.
When Gail returns to Getty'sestate to beg for the remaining
ransom, getty of course refusesto speak with her.
So instead Gail and Fletcherdevise a plan to rescue Paul
during the exchange, before thekidnappers are able to realize
that the payment is short.

(58:23):
After Gail holds a pressconference broadcasting her
intention of paying Paul'skidnappers, getty summons
Fletcher back to his estate tointerrogate Fletcher about how
Gail was able to come up withthe remainder of the ransom.
Fletcher is soon pushed to hiswits end by the cold-hearted

(58:43):
billionaire and inevitably snaps, finally giving Getty a piece
of his mind before storming outof the room in sheer
exasperation.
In a surprise turn of events,just days later Fletcher
receives a telegram from Gettygifting Gail the entire four
million dollar ransom, alongwith full custody of her

(59:06):
children.
Bravo to you for finally doinga decent human being thing, mr
Getty.
It's the bare minimum.

Ashley (59:13):
And this is the grandpa sending the mail about the
custody arrangement.

Remi (59:18):
Yes, because they had signed the contract arrangement
earlier where Junior was givencustody.
And this is basically himsaying forget that, you have
full custody.

Ashley (59:31):
And so through this, Getty and Junior are kind of on
the same side.

Remi (59:34):
Junior is a non-factor in this movie, but it does with the
custody.

Ashley (59:39):
So that's why I'm asking , because it's going to be
important in my portion.
So they kind of seem to befighting together for the
custody arrangement here.

Remi (59:47):
In the film the contract is arranged that Junior would
get custody if Getty pays forthe ransom.
Again, I don't know if thishappened in reality, but he has
a change of heart after hisinteraction with Fletcher who,
like, tells him off for thefirst time and he basically
sends a telegram to Fletchersaying that Gale has full

(01:00:10):
custody now and he will bepaying the full ransom.
During the exchange, theMalavita instruct Fletcher and
Gale to drop the money off on adeserted road, then wait for a
phone call on a payphone at agas station a few kilometers
away.
After the drop has beenconfirmed, paul is freed and

(01:00:32):
told to wait at a nearbyconstruction site for his
eventual rescue.
Things go awry, however, whenthe Malavita realize that the
jig is up after noticing severalpolice helicopters circling.
The area resulted in Mamalitidispatching his men to seek out
Paul and finish him off.

(01:00:53):
Before the rescue efforts havebeen completed, paul spots the
Malavitas in pending returnwhile they are fast approaching
and quickly flees from thepickup location, stumbling upon
a small town, franticallysearching for a place to hide
with the Malavita still hot onhis heels.
Luckily, the police soon arriveon the scene and begin rounding

(01:01:16):
up and arresting all of Paul'skidnappers as Gail discovers a
dirty, bloodied and broken Paulwandering the streets alone, and
the two tearfully embrace forthe first time in several months
.
Simultaneously, jean-paul Gettypasses away completely alone,
surrounded by his endlesspossessions, amid his monumental

(01:01:38):
estate.
Sometime later, gale is calledinto another meeting with Gale's
former representative todiscuss succession plans for
Getty's empire and, in an ironictwist of fate, gale is given
the opportunity to take thereins until her children come of
age.
Gale gladly accepts, and all ofGetty's priceless works of art

(01:02:04):
are soon shipped off to Getty'sunused villa he had constructed
in Los Angeles, california,which you can still visit to
this very day and has since beenrenamed the Getty Museum.
The film's closing credits readJ Paul Getty's vast art
collection became thecornerstone of the Getty Museum

(01:02:26):
in Los Angeles.
His family has donated much ofhis fortune to humanitarian
efforts.
This film is inspired by trueevents.
Some scenes, characters anddialogue have been fictionalized
for dramatic purposes.
And that was Ridley Scott's Allthe Money in the World.
What do you think, ashley?

(01:02:47):
I saw you writing so many notesduring my little spiel here.

Ashley (01:02:52):
I do have notes.
Since we started our newportion of this, of our
Dresschon of the Week, I've beenwriting down notes and then, as
you have gotten closer andcloser to the ransom, I started
jotting down notes for me laterfor when we say our verdict.
So I don't want to do anyspoilers on either of those.
But what I will say is I verymuch enjoyed the tv show that I

(01:03:17):
watched of this and the fewclips you showed me of this.
It is a movie I want to see.
It looks like it's shot reallycool.

Remi (01:03:24):
It looks like it's dark it is a very dark film.
It's very desaturated.
All of the shadows are veryaccentuated.

Ashley (01:03:32):
It is a very dark, dreary looking film and it looks
like plumber did a really goodrole as getty.
I am most interested ininterested in Michelle Williams'
role as this mom who is put inthis impossible situation.
After hearing your descriptionof the film, I am just even so

(01:03:53):
much more disgusted about thispay differential that was
between her and Mark Wahlberg.
Mark Wahlberg, his character islike so on the sidelines, but
it just pisses me off so muchmore that Michelle Williams got
paid so little for this role andshe is the main character.
This movie is about, thiskidnapping, but she ends up

(01:04:15):
being the main character in this, in this movie, and she just
got paid nothing and got fuckedover with all these reshoots and
it is so disgusting to me thatthis happened to her.

Remi (01:04:28):
She is definitely the star of this film and it's sort of
crazy to me that Mark Wahlberggot paid more.
His character is very I don'tknow.
It's like attached to hercharacter.
You could remove his characterfrom every scene and just have
Michelle Williams' character,and it would still have the same

(01:04:50):
effect.
So again, I guess it just comesdown to level of celebrity,
which is why he was paid so muchmore.
But I think it's insane thatMichelle Williams, who is the
star of this movie let there beno debate about that, this is a
Michelle Williams movie, but shewas for some reason paid a

(01:05:14):
fraction of the amount shedeserved for this role and she
is great in the role.
I haven't praised her at allall, but she does do a fantastic
job in this film and it's justeven so crazy to me because it's
not like in 2017.

Ashley (01:05:29):
Michelle williams was like a random girl where this is
her first screen role.
She was still a star.

Remi (01:05:35):
She had been in brokeback mountain, she had been blue
valentine, that's my favoriteone blue valentine is one of the
most tragic love storiescommitted to film I have seen,
and so long, and her and ryangosling are fucking brilliant
had she done that marilyn monroemovie probably not yet my life

(01:05:59):
with marilyn.

Ashley (01:06:00):
That movie wasn't very good but it was still a big one.
But at this point in timeeveryone still knew who she was,
if not for her acting roles,because of her relationship with
Heath Ledger.
So she wasn't like a randomperson who hadn't been in any
movie roles before.
She was a known actress and nowif you see a Michelle Williams

(01:06:22):
movie, you know it's going to bea respected film.

Remi (01:06:26):
And I honestly just think it's because Michelle Williams
has chosen a lot of roles thatare more small, more independent
.
They are not blockbuster roles.
Michelle Williams is an actress.
She likes to perform in roles,no matter what the caliber of it
is, and I think that she wasdrawn to this role beyond the

(01:06:50):
fact that Ridley Scott wasdirecting it, beyond the fact
that it was this big KevinSpacey movie.
I think that Michelle Williamsis a very underappreciated
actress and I think this movieis a very good example of that.
More so Blue Valentine, Ihighly recommend.
I think that is her bestperformance, but she is

(01:07:10):
magnificent in this movie aswell.

Ashley (01:07:13):
What happens next?

Remi (01:07:15):
Well, All the Money in the World currently has an approval
rating of 79% on RottenTomatoes, with a critical
consensus that reads All theMoney in the World offers an
absorbing portrayal of a truestory brought compellingly to
life by a powerful performancefrom Christopher Plummer.
Again, no mention of MichelleWilliams in any of these reviews

(01:07:38):
.
Christopher Plummer is great,but come on, man, you gotta give
her props.
She's amazing.
All the money in the world wenton to gross just over $25
million in North America and anadditional $31 million overseas,
for a worldwide total of $56million against a production

(01:07:59):
budget of $50 million.
So this movie really didn'tmake any money.
But if you take away the $10million they had to do for
reshoots, but you usually haveto add double the production for
marketing and promotion and allof that stuff.
So in that regard this moviedid fairly badly.

Ashley (01:08:21):
True, true, I forgot about the marketing.

Remi (01:08:23):
Well.
This film was nominated for aslew of awards, however, with
director Ridley Scott andMichelle Williams both being
nominated for Golden Globes, butit was Christopher Plummer's
standout performance as JohnPaul Getty that was largely
considered to be the highlightof the entire film, and I would

(01:08:44):
be inclined to agree with thatstatement.
Christopher Plummer is great inthis movie.
This is probably the bestperformance I've ever seen
Christopher Plummer do.
Plummer was nominated in thecategory of Best Supporting
Actor at the AARP Movies forGrownups Awards, the British

(01:09:04):
Academy Film Awards, the GoldenGlobe Awards and, at 88 years of
age, Christopher Plummer becamethe oldest Academy Award
nominee in an acting category,surpassing Gloria Stewart, who
was 87 when she was nominatedfor Titanic.

Ashley (01:09:23):
I knew it.
I knew it was going to beTitanic.
I knew it.

Remi (01:09:27):
I was keeping that as a last minute surprise.
I knew you would see it coming,but I thought that would be a
fun little thing to add in there.
But yeah, Christopher Plummer,oldest Oscar nominee ever before
, Gloria Stewart from Titanic,which I can't believe she was
nominated.
She's barely in that movie.
Christopher Plummer has so manymore scenes than she did.

Ashley (01:09:50):
Okay, so I'm gonna push back on that.
It's not that I can't believeshe was nominated.
It's I can't believe she andliterally every single other
person who touched their fingerson Titanic, except for Leonardo
DiCaprio was nominated.

Remi (01:10:05):
Gloria Stewart should not have been nominated for an
Academy Award over LeonardoDiCaprio in.
Titanic.
I will commit to that, to mydeath.
Gloria Stewart is barely inthat movie, and that line where
she's talking about it was themost erotic experience of my
life.
She is not even good in thatmovie, and that line where she's
talking about it was the mosterotic experience of my life.

(01:10:25):
She is not even good in themovie.
Leo is the star of the film.
That movie wins every award andyou don't nominate the star of
the film.
What the hell, Hollywood?

Ashley (01:10:36):
We have lots and lots and lots of opinions about
Titanic and Leonardo DiCaprio.
But back to All the Money inthe World.

Remi (01:10:45):
That is besides the point, but that was All the Money in
the World directed by RidleyScott.
It is a very interesting taleand one that I don't know
anything about the real story soI am actually really anxious to
hear the side of it.
Ashley, would you fill us in onwhat really happened with J

(01:11:08):
Paul Getty?

Ashley (01:11:10):
Yes, and before we even get to the kidnapping, I want to
talk a little bit about whoJohn Paul Getty was and how this
global oil empire came to be.

Remi (01:11:22):
And I really want to know, because the movie really did
not dive into that much at all,other than the fact that he
discovered oil in Saudi Arabia.

Ashley (01:11:31):
John Paul Getty was born in Minneapolis on December 15,
1892.
Two years prior, his parents'first child died from typhoid,
when she was just 10 years old.
Their mom, sarah, alsocontracted the illness and
sustained permanent hearing losswhich left her almost
completely deaf by the time shewas 50.
Out of fear of losing a secondchild, sarah was overprotective

(01:11:55):
of John and discouraged contactwith other children out of fear
of contagion.
She was also careful not toshow him too much affection in
case he suffered the same fateas the younger sister.
He never knew the patriarch ofthe family, george Getty, used
his law degree to start aprospering insurance business

(01:12:16):
and traveled to a reservation inOklahoma to settle an insurance
claim in 1903.
Since he was there during thebeginnings of the oil boom which
we talked about in our episodeon Killers of the Flower Moon.

Remi (01:12:29):
I was going to ask did he drill for oil on any of the Osei
Indian reservations?

Ashley (01:12:35):
He did.
He leased a plot for $500.

Remi (01:12:39):
How much did that plot end up being worth?

Ashley (01:12:42):
Well, soon after, he was averaging 100,000 barrels of
oil per month and started theMinnehoma Oil Company, turning
him into a millionaire by 1906.

Remi (01:12:55):
And a millionaire at 1906 is, let's face it, a billionaire
by today's standards.

Ashley (01:13:02):
I do want to note that the amount of money in this
episode one there's just so manynumbers and by any sort of
standards a millionaire nowversus a millionaire then it's
still an insane amount of money.
So I didn't do any sort ofadjustment for inflation.
It just goes to show you thatin the years when we're saying

(01:13:25):
this is how much this family hadtimes that by God only knows a
lot.
As George was spending more andmore time in Oklahoma, sarah
decided it was time to move toCalifornia and built a home
outside of LA.
Being cut off from the family'ssupport further fueled John
Getty's introversion.
He made few friends during hisfour years in military school

(01:13:47):
and was nicknamed Dictionary.

Remi (01:13:58):
Getty, as he always had his nose in a nickname.

Ashley (01:14:01):
He briefly studied at USC and Berkeley, but put his
studies aside in favor of thenightlife scene by the time he
was 17 years old.
After a few years, hisfascination with European
culture prompted him to fly thenest with the goal of getting
into Oxford College.
After about a year, George grewtired of funding Getty's

(01:14:21):
excursion and decided it wastime for his son to come home to
learn the family business.
Getty was given $10,000 andinstructed to find his own oil
in exchange for a 30% commissionrate.
At this point in 1914, WorldWar I and the automotive
industry had just taken off,resulting in a high demand for

(01:14:43):
the product.
Getty secured his first oillease in August 1915.
Several plots later, he becamea millionaire by the time he was
24 years old.

Remi (01:14:55):
He was a millionaire at 24 years old in the early 1900s.

Ashley (01:15:00):
Around 1917, he had the idea to expand the oil company
to fields in California.
With the growing success of thecompany, the name was soon
changed to Getty Oil Inc.

Remi (01:15:12):
Which you all have probably gotten gas at maybe
even this week.

Ashley (01:15:17):
Getty loved two things throughout his life money and
women.
His first of five failedmarriages to women much younger
than him started in 1923.

Remi (01:15:29):
Five marriages Wow okay.

Ashley (01:15:31):
At the age of 30, he secretly married 17-year-old
Jeanette Dumont 17?
.

Remi (01:15:37):
What the fuck is with these old dudes and marrying
teenagers.
What the fuck is with these olddudes and marrying teenagers.

Ashley (01:15:43):
Although he was quite the drummer, he had a tendency
to become disinterested in hiswives soon after the marriages
and subsequent pregnancies,resulting in repeated affairs,

(01:16:06):
divorce proceedings andallegations of domestic violence
Before his first divorce wasfinalized in 1926, he briefly
married 17-year-old Aileen Ashby, but the union was dissolved
shortly after he was really into17-year-olds, apparently.
Well, just wait.
This marriage to Ashby was theonly wife with whom he did not
have children.
In 1928, when he was 36 yearsold, he married his third wife,
17-year-old Adolphine Helm.

Remi (01:16:27):
I'm noticing a pattern here.

Ashley (01:16:29):
This union started just days after his divorce to Aileen
was finalized.
Soon after this marriage ended,he married 21-year-old Ann Wark
in 1932.
His last and longest marriagewas to Teddy Lynch.
They were together from 1939 to1958.
Getty's rapid succession ofmarriages and word about how he

(01:16:52):
treated his wives and employeesresulted in his father
substantially writing him out ofhis will.
When George died in 1930, Gettyinherited just $250,000 of his
father's $10 million fortune.
In addition to the third statein Getty Oil, Sarah, his mother
got everything else, whichincluded controlling interest in

(01:17:15):
Getty Oil.
The board of directors made himpresident of the company under
the assumption that as aminority shareholder, he
wouldn't have enough power tomake any serious decisions.
This was problematic, as Gettywanted nothing more but to prove
his father wrong by expandingGetty Oil into every branch of
the business.

Remi (01:17:36):
A little side diversion here.
We just watched a documentaryon Vince McMahon from the WWE
and there is a weird pattern ofthese old billionaires just
seeking their father's approvalthrough these cold-hearted,
ruthless means.
I will never understand it.

(01:17:58):
It's a different generationalthing, especially with
billionaires, so I'm definitelynever going to understand it.
It seems like fathers werecruel to their children back in
the day, even rich children,just to teach them the ways, or
something like that.

Ashley (01:18:17):
And this is a trend that Getty will continue to live by.
I think it's kind of like I hadto do all of this hard work.
It shouldn't just be handed toyou.
You have to prove yourself.

Remi (01:18:30):
And I'm just going to make a personal side note here.
This is something that I feelis very prevalent in the
filmmaking industry, wherepeople were treated very poorly
by the people that were abovethem previously and, as a result
, they treat the people belowthem when they reach those same
positions very poorly, and it isjust a mindset that I will

(01:18:54):
never understand.
Like you had to struggle andyou hated it, why would you make
other people struggle and hateit the same way that you did?

Ashley (01:19:05):
Well, I think for George Getty it was because his view
of his business was differentthan the one his son has adopted
, and thus he treated hisemployees different.
So I think really the realreason why he was not just
automatically given this companyand why he was only given I

(01:19:25):
mean, I don't want to say onlybecause $250,000 in 1930,
certainly nothing to scoff at,but his father also had $10
million in that time, from whatI've read, what it sounds like
what was most concerning toGeorge Getty was not that he
didn't believe in his son, butthat he disagreed with how his

(01:19:46):
son treated other people.
So anyway, getty had thisdesire to expand to not only oil
production but every part ofthe oil business, everything
from refining it to pumping itat gas stations.
So because of that he beggedSarah, his mother, to sell him
the remaining two-thirds sharesof the company, but she held on

(01:20:07):
to them as she felt Getty'sexpansion was against George's
wishes.

Remi (01:20:13):
I'm sorry to keep bringing up Vince McMahon, but this is
very, very.
We just watched the documentaryabout the whole thing and this
is a very similar story of afather not believing that their
son would handle their businesscorrectly, so making them do
these other hoops to jumpthrough and, as a result, their

(01:20:34):
son turning out to be even moreruthless and cold-hearted than
their father would ever haveimagined and cold-hearted than
their father would ever haveimagined.

Ashley (01:20:48):
Although the Great Depression and stock market
crash in the 1930s devastatedmost Americans, it provided
Getty a unique opportunity Withshares in other oil companies at
record lows.
He embarked on an expansionmission, quietly purchasing
shares of publicly tradedcompanies to gain control of
them.
At the same time, he finallyconvinced Sarah to sell him
two-thirds interest in Getty Oilin return for promissory notes

(01:21:12):
at the price of $4.6 millionplus 3.5% annual interest.
Sarah was also a very smartbusinesswoman.
Sarah was also a very smartbusinesswoman.
Three years later, she createdthe Sarah C Getty Trust to
protect the family's assets andinterests of Getty's children in
case his desperate pursuit forglobal domination bankrupted him

(01:21:36):
.

Remi (01:21:36):
Wow, good on her.

Ashley (01:21:41):
The trust was a happy medium for Getty and Sarah.
As principal trustee, he hadabsolute power over the capital
and could invest and use it tocontinue to purchase shares of
other oil companies.
He could also decide howpayments from the trust would be
made, either in cash dividendsor further shares in the trust,
by limiting cash payments orwithdrawals.

(01:22:02):
This meant the income wasprotected from taxation and
overutilization.
For Sarah, she could restassured that a majority of the
funds would continue to procureinterest for years to come,
providing a comfortable nest eggfor her grandchildren.
As Getty continued to purchaseshares in other oil companies at
record low prices while at thesame time continuing to increase

(01:22:27):
his oil production.
The Sarah C Getty Trust reached$18 million, an almost 600%
increase in just two years.
America's demand for oilreached an all-time high by the
end of World War II.
As the US started to shifttheir attention to the Middle
East, getty learned about theneutral zone 2,000 miles of

(01:22:49):
desert with shared oil rightsbetween Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Although everyone viewed thisland as essentially useless,
getty decided to take control ofit sight unseen useless Getty
decided to take control of itsight unseen.

Remi (01:23:06):
So he did not arrive via train in the middle of the
desert to discuss oil rightswith the leaders of Saudi Arabia
.

Ashley (01:23:11):
Oh no, not only was he not there, but to do this, he
offered the king of Saudi Arabiaand the Sultan of Kuwait a deal
they couldn't refuse 40% profitfrom each barrel of oil they
produced, plus a $20 milliondown payment, regardless of if
anything was found on the land.

Remi (01:23:32):
How much did this end up being worth in the end?
I am fascinated.
I know it's a fortune.

Ashley (01:23:39):
Well, Getty did find oil , and lots of it, but it was low
grade and thus in low demand.
So to circumvent this, he spentclose to $500 million updating
or building new oil refineriesin the states and creating
tanker fleets that couldtransport it.
He even had to build a port anddeepen the Delaware River so it

(01:24:03):
could accommodate his massiveships.

Remi (01:24:06):
This must be the super tanker that is talked about in
the film.

Ashley (01:24:11):
It is, and, as we all know, the Middle East is rich in
oil.
So, basically, getty jumpedship no pun intended on
America's quest to get oil fromthe Middle East and, instead of
doing some sort of deepsurveillance to see if it was
worth it, he got lucky and waslike I'm going to take control
over this 2,000 miles of desert,and it proved to be a gold mine

(01:24:36):
.

Remi (01:24:36):
He rolled the dice and it was one of the biggest wins in
financial history, from thesounds of it.

Ashley (01:24:45):
Oh, it sure was.
Over the next 12 years, GettyOil built 15 separate wells in
the neutral zone.
By the mid-1950s, he completedhis acquisition of several of
his biggest oil competitors,including smaller subsidiaries
in the European market, andmerged these holdings into Getty
Oil.
By 1957, at the age of 66, hewas accruing half a million

(01:25:11):
dollars a day, earning him thetitle of the richest American in
the world.

Remi (01:25:16):
Half a million dollars a day.
I cannot even fathom thatamount of money.

Ashley (01:25:25):
It goes back to the difference between someone who
is rich and someone who iswealthy.
The Getty family is wealthy.
They could never spend all themoney they have in their
lifetime.
There's no way.
This is an insane amount ofmoney this person was making.

Remi (01:25:41):
It's a level of wealth that any normal person will
never even be able to comprehend.
Imagine if money meant nothingto you whatsoever.
I can't even think of that.

Ashley (01:25:56):
An important part of Getty's financial strategy was
to plow all the company'sprofits back into the trust,
thus ensuring its capital wouldsteadily increase and remain
untouched from overspending andtaxation.
So, essentially because allthis money was being put back
into a trust, none of it wasbeing taxed.

(01:26:17):
In all of Getty's life, hebarely paid more than $500 in
taxes a year.

Remi (01:26:23):
I hate to say it, but that doesn't seem too rare for
millionaires and billionairesthese days in America.
It seems like there are waysfor the richest of the rich to
place their money in other areasthat can help them pay the
least amount of taxes possible.
Other areas that can help thempay the least amount of taxes
possible.

Ashley (01:26:43):
I could go on and on about this, but I'm not, because
this is not a politics podcast,it's a true crime movie podcast
.

Remi (01:26:51):
True, I hold my tongue.
Continue with the story, please.

Ashley (01:27:00):
Since Getty managed and directed every detail of the
company remotely from Paris,followed by England in 1960, he
essentially wrote off everythinghe possibly could as a business
expense, so this includespretty much everywhere he lived
Before he ended up buying hislike Tudor style mansion castle.
He would rent because he couldwrite it off as business
expenses.

(01:27:20):
And even when he bought hiscastle, it was written off
because it was his headquarters.

Remi (01:27:27):
I guess it's smart doing that sort of thing, but I can't
help but feel like damn dude,like why even worry about it?
You're so rich, why care aboutthose little things?

Ashley (01:27:40):
Because his biggest goal in life was to make sure that
the Getty name had money, and sothis was one way he did it.

Remi (01:27:48):
He's making millions of dollars every single week.
I just can't even fathom thisamount of money.

Ashley (01:27:57):
He was also very frugal when it came to operating costs.
He reused envelopes, had smallelectrical fires in his
Tudor-style mansion in place ofcentral heating and installed an
actual payphone for guests sohe wouldn't have to pay for
visitors' phone calls.
He also never bought anythingunless he could convince himself

(01:28:21):
that it would appreciate invalue.
So this ended up paying offwell for him, because during
World War II, when everythingwas cheap, he would buy very,
very expensive like Europeanfurniture at basically pennies
on the dollar.
Hold on to it.
And then, after the war, wheneverything just jumped up, it

(01:28:43):
was worth millions of dollarsand he got it for essentially
nothing.

Remi (01:28:47):
I'm still hung up on the whole reusing envelopes thing
that you just said.

Ashley (01:28:53):
Oh, he would get envelopes and he would take off
the stamps and then, like,resend them.

Remi (01:28:59):
That is fucking bonkers.

Ashley (01:29:02):
Now that we know how Getty built his empire, it's
finally time to move on to therest of the family.
Getty had five sons bornbetween 1924 and 1958.
George, ronald, gordon, eugenethis is Junior and Timothy.

Remi (01:29:20):
So he did not have a son named after himself.

Ashley (01:29:24):
He ends up changing his name later, eugene does.
Getty hardly ever saw or spoketo his kids while they were
growing up, even though most ofthem were raised in California.
The only time four of the fivewere together was for Christmas
Eve in 1939.
Since they were essentiallystrangers with the exception of
Gordon and Eugene aka Juniorthey were understandably

(01:29:48):
suspicious of one another,especially once Getty started to
establish contact and groomthem for the Getty dynasty
around the time each of themstarted to turn 18.
Timothy was the only one whodidn't take up a job with Getty
Oil.
When he was six, he neededbrain surgery to remove a tumor
which left him partially blindand disfigured.

(01:30:10):
While Getty was in Paris in1958, he got a call from Teddy
informing him that Timothy wasgetting cosmetic surgery to
remove his forehead scars.
Although Timothy begged Gettyto return to the States, he
opted to stay in Paris and wasmeeting with an art dealer at
the day of his 12-year-old son'shead operation.

(01:30:32):
Four days later he learned thathis son had not survived.
This general disinterest in hisson's life outside of the work
they did for the companyextended into adulthood, as he
never attended any of theirweddings, sometimes not even
acknowledging the celebratoryevents.
Firstborn, george, started hisGetty Oil career as a

(01:30:56):
representative in the neutralzone, eventually becoming
president of the Tidewater OilCompany at the age of 31.
The second son, ronald, joinedthe marketing department in 1951
and was running it three yearslater.
Of all of Getty's children,ronald was the only one that was
essentially excluded from thetrust.

(01:31:18):
While all of the other childrenreceived percentage payments
based on the value of the trust,which by the early 1980s was
reaching about $28 million inannual interest payments,
ronald's payments were limitedto just $3,000 per year, why?

(01:31:39):
Well, getty's divorce was abitter one, since he blamed her
and his father-in-law for thehefty settlement he was forced
to pay.
He convinced Sarah to limit thepayments when they established
the trust, arguing that sinceRonald's father was rich which,
by the way, he was basically inprison and lost all of his money

(01:32:01):
because he refused to work forHitler.
But Getty was like well,ronald's gonna get money anyway,
which he didn't.
Although Ronald was later madethe executor of Getty's will and
a trustee of the J Paul GettyMuseum, which I'll talk about a
bit later, ronald was neverwritten to the trust, despite
intermittent promises from hisfather to do so.

(01:32:25):
Being employees of Getty Oil didlittle to form a relationship
between the half-brothers.
George resented having Ronaldin the company, and Ronald
became increasingly aware of themassive handicap of being the
only son excluded from the trust.
Although Ronald was promoted toa German branch and did well

(01:32:46):
there, he realized he didn'treally have a future with the
company and left in 1964,determined to make his own
fortune.
George, on the other hand,certainly didn't fare much
better.
As president of Tidewater hereceived the most scrutiny from
his father.
Their communication centeredaround the most minute mistakes

(01:33:07):
or failures, with all ofGordon's successes being
completely ignored.
The stress of it all caused himto start drinking in 1973, and
before long he was mixing hisbooze with sedatives and speed.
He was mixing his booze withsedatives and speed.
After an argument with his wifein June 1973, just one month

(01:33:31):
before the Rome kidnapping aheavily intoxicated George,
locked himself in his bathroom,swallowed a large amount of
pinot parvabitrol, which is abarbiturate most often used for
anxiety and insomnia, and triedto stab himself with a barbecue
fork.
Since Getty despised drug useand bad publicity, he instructed
first responders to take hiscomatose son to a smaller

(01:33:52):
hospital further away.
There was little pushback,since everyone assumed George
was just in a drunken stupor,not realizing he was actively
dying from a fatal overdose.
George did not survive thenight.
Although Getty refused to talkto anyone about George's death,
he did hang up a photograph ofhim in the hallway of his

(01:34:16):
English mansion.

Remi (01:34:17):
I mean, I guess that's the least you can do.
I mean I guess that's the leastyou can do.

Ashley (01:34:21):
Getty's fourth wife gave birth to Eugene and Gordon in
1932 and 1933, respectively.
Despite being the only two sonsraised together, they couldn't
have been more different.
Eugene was extroverted andalways up for an adventure,
while Gordon was more reservedand interested in music, poetry

(01:34:42):
and economic theory.
Getty only visited them once inpre-adolescence and hardly
spoke to them for the next 12years.
When Eugene was 12, he wrotehis father a letter which was
mailed back unanswered, with allof the spelling and grammatical
errors corrected.
Both sons started working fortheir father in November 1956,

(01:35:04):
shortly after Eugene's first son, john Paul Getty III, was born.
The men reached out to theirhalf-brother, george, who
graciously offered them a jobpumping gas.
Two years later, getty calledEugene out of the blue and
offered him an opportunity toprove himself through a position
in the neutral zone.

(01:35:24):
Since Eugene's wife Gail andhis infant son would have to
come along, getty summoned theyoung family to Paris to meet
them.
During the visit, a violentdemonstration broke out near
Paris, so Getty took the familyto Brussels for a few weeks
until things calmed down.
So Getty took the family toBrussels for a few weeks until

(01:35:45):
things calmed down.
Getty actually enjoyed hisfirst ever family vacation, he
was delighted by 17-month-oldPaul's curiosity and charmed by
Gail.
After getting to know thefamily, getty decided the
Arabian Desert was no place forthem and offered Eugene a job as
a general manager at Golfo Oil.
In a final act that wouldsolidify Eugene's title as

(01:36:07):
Getty's current favorite son, hechanged his name to John Paul
Getty Jr.
Since Getty decided he stillneeded someone in the neutral
zone, he decided it was as gooda place as any for Gordon.
This stand was short-lived,since Gordon helped a female
staff member who had an affairflee the country to avoid
prosecution.

(01:36:28):
As a result, the Saudis placedhim under house arrest.
Getty was unsympathetic toGordon's good deeds, since he
wanted to maintain a positiverelationship with the government
and thought well, since thewoman knew the rules, she should

(01:36:50):
be ready to pay the price forbreaking them.
Gordon was transferred to amanagerial role with a trailer
company in Tulsa, oklahoma, buthe soon grew tired of it and
quit to finish his collegedegree at Berkeley.
By 1970, gordon was in a happymarriage with three sons but
found himself strapped for cash,which the couple found
ridiculous given who his fatherwas.
With encouragement from hiswife, he filed a lawsuit to try

(01:37:12):
to access some of his moneylocked away in the Sarah C Getty
Trust.
He tried to explain that thelawsuit wasn't personal and just
a way to clarify an obscurefinancial situation, but the old
man was furious and viewed itas a threat to the future of the
Getty fortune.
You see, to avoid taxes, gettypaid his children in stocks

(01:37:36):
rather than cash dividends,which increased the
beneficiaries holding in thetrust but wasn't considered
taxable income.
In the lawsuit, gordon claimedhe should have been paid 6-7%
interest in cash, not in stocks,since the trust was developed
in 1936.
This lawsuit dragged on forseven years and although Gordon

(01:38:03):
ultimately lost his wife, annedid persuade Getty to make a
payout to her husband, juniorand George.
While you think this would havebeen the end of the
relationship between Getty andGordon, it actually did wonders
to forge a bond.
Gordon was the only son whodemonstrated the will and
determination to oppose hisfather and Getty respected him

(01:38:25):
for it.
He started spending more timewith Gordon's family and
appointed him as the trustee ofthe John Paul Getty Museum and
as the Sarah Getty Trust in 1972.
Gale and Jr had three more kidsby 1962, aileen, mark and
Aradine.
But Paul remained Getty'sfavorite, which makes everything

(01:38:46):
that transpired during thekidnapping even more alarming.
Despite the large family, pauland Gail were essentially living
separate lives.
Junior spent most of his timeat home drinking alone and hated
working for Getty Oil.
Their divorce in 1964 wasamicable.
Gail didn't try to get any ofJunior's money and the couple

(01:39:09):
started a new trust for theirchildren with the caveat that
anyone who married before theage of 22 would get nothing, as
they hoped it would protect themfrom potential gold diggers.
Two years later Junior met andmarried Talithia Pole.
By this time Junior had fallenout of favor with his father,

(01:39:31):
mostly because a golfo oilrefinery in Naples was doing
poorly.
Getty also learned the couplehad adopted a hippie lifestyle
and started using drugs, twothings he disapproved of.
Junior's newfound lifestyle ofworldwide travel and drug use
didn't bode well with his formerlife as a family man and

(01:39:52):
businessman he saw his childrenless and less was blacklisted by
Getty until he got off heroinand resigned from Gulfo Oil in
May 1968.
Shortly after he and Talithahad a son whom they named Tara
Gabriel.
Galaxy Gramophone Getty.

Remi (01:40:12):
Why?
Why was she named that?

Ashley (01:40:15):
It's a he.

Remi (01:40:16):
Why were they named that?

Ashley (01:40:18):
It's a very interesting name, that's for sure, I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:40:22):
It's a ridiculous name, it's for sure.
I mean it's a ridiculous name.

Ashley (01:40:24):
It's the 60s free love saxophone like gramophone
saxophone what was it?

Remi (01:40:32):
gramophone?
Oh my god, that's ridiculous.

Ashley (01:40:36):
Don't name your children gramophone well, shortly after
the, they resumed the lifestyleof drugs and infidelity and Gail
offered to take custody of TaraGabriel Galaxy Gramophone.

Remi (01:40:51):
Why is he named Galaxy?
Why is the Galaxy part eventhrown in there?

Ashley (01:40:55):
By the summer of 1970, junior was splitting his time
between his mistress Victoriawho he did marry in 1994, and
Talitha.
Talitha managed to kick herheroin addiction and shocked
Junior when she asked for adivorce the following year.
He insisted he still loved her,promised he would get clean and

(01:41:16):
convinced her to stay with himfor a few days on July 9, 1971.
The next morning Talitha wasrushed to the hospital in a coma
and died without regainingconsciousness.
The post-mortem examinationrevealed she died of cardiac
arrest and had high levels ofalcohol and barbiturates in her

(01:41:37):
system.
Junior left Tara with Gail andfled to Thailand after an
investigation was opened intoTalitha's death to determine if
he contributed to her death bysupplying her any sort of
illicit substance.
Basically, the rumors was heinjected her with heroin and she
died even though there was noheroin found in her system.

(01:41:58):
Stricken with guilt and grief,he relied on drugs more than
ever to numb his pain.
Two months later he moved backinto the London home he shared
with Talitha and kept all of herbelongings right where she left
them.
Although he only lived 30minutes away from his father,

(01:42:18):
getty refused all contact withhis son and removed him from the
will entirely.
Of all of Gale's children.
Junior's growing absence andTalitha's sudden death had the
most impact on Paul.
By 1973, at the age of 16, he'dquit school, started dating a
24-year-old single mother andmoved into a studio with two

(01:42:42):
other aspiring painters.
Paul was kidnapped while walkinghome around 3am on July 10,
1973.
I'm only including this nextpart because it might play into
our objection of the week later.
But he was not kidnapped in avan.
He was kidnapped in a smallwhite Fiat.

(01:43:03):
The kidnappers were a gang ofpetty criminals loosely
associated with the CalibrianMafia, an ancient federization
of families from the poorestpart of Italy who made their
money by offering protection forlocal racketeers and poor
residents.
A few months prior, someyounger members decided

(01:43:24):
kidnapping the wealthy teenwould be a quicker source of
profit, as they were certain theransom would be paid quickly.
Paul was driven to the ruralcountryside at the toe of Italy
and held captive in forestedhuts.
He was chained by his anklesand fed a minimal diet
consisting primarily of coldspaghetti, canned tuna and water

(01:43:46):
for the next five months.

Remi (01:43:49):
There was a member of the kidnappers that Paul not
befriended but was like nice tohim throughout.
Was there someone in this groupthat was at least a little bit
compassionate to Paul duringthis whole thing?

Ashley (01:44:05):
I'm assuming it is supposed to be the one person
who is the one that, like,facilitated the communication
between the gang and Gail thatis who it is in the movie.
The following evening, gailreceived a call from a man
informing her Paul was kidnappedand would only be released once
a hefty ransom was paid.

(01:44:25):
After she said she didn't havemuch money to give, she was
instructed to call herfather-in-law, since he had all
the money in the world.

Remi (01:44:34):
Did they have an actual dollar amount that they were
asking?

Ashley (01:44:38):
Not, yet it does come in a minute.

Remi (01:44:41):
So what were they asking during this time?

Ashley (01:44:44):
At this point they were just saying yo, lady, we got
your kid get a ransom together.
It's going to be a lot, butthey didn't give her a specific
amount yet.

Remi (01:44:53):
So they may have known that she didn't have the money
and they were kind of giving hera heads up like hey, we're
asking for a ransom.
You should get a hold of yourfather-in-law.

Ashley (01:45:04):
Oh, they probably just assumed they would call the mom
of this super wealthy teen andsay this is the ransom for your
son, and she'd be like, ok, whenand where.
And when she said no, theyobviously knew who John Paul
Kitty was.
So they're like, ok, you don'thave any money, go to that guy.
Gail immediately contactedlocal authorities and was

(01:45:25):
interrogated for the next fivehours.
In the end they assumed Pauljust ran off and would turn up
on his own.
The media got wind of the newsthe next morning and casted
further doubt on thekidnapping's legitimacy.
Most of the articles focus onGail as a mother and Paul's
character as a supposeddrug-addicted, sex-crazed

(01:45:49):
teenager.
In reality, paul had adoptedsome of his father's lifestyle
habits, albeit much to a lesserdegree.
He did smoke hash, he posed fora photo shoot nude one time to
make some cash and he spent anight in jail for participating
in a political demonstration.
Gail spent the next 10 dayswaiting for an update on her son

(01:46:12):
.
She felt totally abandoned bythe Getty family, as no one
reached out to her and thepatriarch refused to return her
calls.
Finally, she received twoletters.
The first was made from acolorful collage of magazine
letters and demanded roughly $17million for Paul's release.

(01:46:32):
The second was, in Paul'shandwriting, begging her to talk
to his grandfather and convincehim to pay the ransom as soon
as possible.
Getty made his attitude aboutpaying the ransom clear to the
press by issuing the followingstatement, quote I have 14
grandchildren and if I pay apenny of ransom I'll have 14

(01:46:53):
kidnapped grandchildren.
End quote.
In reality, getty disapproved ofPaul's lifestyle and blamed him
for being kidnapped in thefirst place.
Over the next month, galereceived a few calls from a man
who used the codename Sequinta,which is Italian for 50.
He was baffled at the old man'srefusal to pay the ransom and

(01:47:15):
warned her that his friends werebecoming increasingly impatient
.
With the police making noleeway on the case, they decided
the kidnapping was a hoax toextort money from Getty.
This theory gained popularitywith the press and caused Getty
to dig his heels in even deeper.
At the five-week mark, Gale'sfather, a respected judge who

(01:47:37):
had a friendly relationship withGetty, convinced him that
something had to be done.
Although he still refused topay the ransom, he sent Fletcher
Chase, a former spy for the CIAand security advisor for oil
installations in the neutralzone, to Rome to act as a sort
of liaison between him and Galeand to conduct his own

(01:47:59):
investigation into thekidnapping.
Fletcher tried to make contactwith 50, but his rusty Spanish
just annoyed the man.
Since Fletcher's investigationturned up nothing, he too
started to believe the hoaxtheory.
He also convinced Gale to notattend a planned meeting with 50
, which was probably smart, butalso further aggravated Paul's

(01:48:23):
captors.
They took their anger out onhim by confiscating his radio,
killing a bird he made a petright in front of him, keeping
him bound and gagged for hoursand forcing him to play Russian
roulette With little end insight.
The kidnappers sold their stakein Paul to higher-ranked mafia
members who were much colder andmore ruthless.

(01:48:46):
To put an end to the hoaxtheory, they decided to make a
clear statement in October.
By cutting off his right ear,50 told Gail about the maiming
on October 21st.
Around the same time, polaroidsof Paul were found in a garbage
can in Rome.
He also told her the ear wasmailed, but postal strikes

(01:49:08):
delayed the package untilNovember 10th.
This development gained theattention of the Vatican and
President Richard Nixon.
To help with the investigation,nixon sent ex-FBI agent Thomas
Bamonti to Rome.
Although he was successful inreducing the ransom to $3.2

(01:49:29):
million, getty still refused topaya single cent.
Soon after 50 told Gale that ifa deal wasn't struck soon,
paul's left ear or possiblyother parts of his anatomy would
soon follow.

Remi (01:49:43):
They said it would be his foot in the movie.

Ashley (01:49:47):
To make matters worse, paul developed a severe
infection, pneumonia and apenicillin allergy from the
large quantities they startedinjecting him with to treat his
grotesque ear injury.
Poor.

Remi (01:50:01):
Paul, that's all I have to say.
I feel so fucking bad for thispoor kid.

Ashley (01:50:07):
Oh, he is basically scarred for the rest of his life
, not only physically but likeinternally, because of this
whole fiasco.
Basically, the only reason theylike did all this bodily injury
stuff was because they werelike oh, you think this is a
hoax?
Well, it's not.

Remi (01:50:25):
Yeah, they were just trying to prove how serious they
were.
This poor kid is so fucked uphe's a teenager.

Ashley (01:50:32):
He's 16 years old, yeah just a high school kid.

Remi (01:50:36):
I could not have met this poor kid.

Ashley (01:50:39):
After Gail's father again contacted Getty, he
finally agreed to pay $2.2million, which was the
tax-deductible portion of theransom.
Junior, who was MIA throughoutthis whole ordeal, reluctantly
agreed to pay the last million.
But he didn't have any moneybecause he spent it all on drugs

(01:51:00):
, so Getty loaned it to him at a4% interest rate.
A severe winter storm delayedthe money exchange for a week.
Two days after, three bags ofmoney were given to a man on the
side of the road at a ruralItalian countryside.
50 told Gail where Paul wasgoing to be released.

(01:51:22):
She hopped in the car and drovethere that same night, but when
she got there no one was there.
However, she did find a blanketand a blindfold that were
surely his.
Thankfully, paul was quicklyfound and taken to a rural
police station the next day,after five months of this

(01:51:42):
captivity, where theirgrandfather refused to pay
anything and then finally agreedbecause he could get a fucking
tax return on it.
Well, it was his 81st birthday,and so Gail said hey, paul, you
should call your grandpa andsay thank you.
When that call came through,getty refused to take it.

Remi (01:52:03):
Of course he's a coward.

Ashley (01:52:06):
Gail and her children spent the next several months
recuperating in the Austrianmountains and soothing Paul, who
was plagued by depression andnightmares.
That summer, Paul and hisformer girlfriend married and
moved to Los Angeles.
Since he wasn't yet 22 whenthey married, he was
disqualified from receiving anyfunds from the trust set up by

(01:52:29):
Galen Jr in 1966.

Remi (01:52:32):
Poor Paul man.

Ashley (01:52:44):
Usually, when you hear about wealthy families like this
, it's like anything thathappens.
You're like whatever.

Remi (01:52:47):
They're rich, but there's a lot of people in this story
that you hear about and you'rejust like, ugh, that is rough.
Yeah, they really got putthrough the wringer, so to speak
, in the worst terminology.

Ashley (01:52:54):
Gail and Paul returned to Rome for the trial of seven
accused kidnappers in late 1975.
As is common in most mafiatrials, it was pretty clear that
none of the ringleaders wereamong the defendants.
Those convicted received fourto ten year prison sentences.
Not long after his 80thbirthday, in 1972, getty started

(01:53:18):
developing a sense of failureand feared the dynasty would end
, as none of his children weregood enough to succeed him in
the business.
It's like strong successionvibes.
After the kidnapping, he madeattempts to build relationships
with his children andgrandchildren, including Paul,
although Paul's maimed ear was aconstant reminder of what

(01:53:40):
happened.
Getty refused to acknowledgethe kidnapping.
Junior was the only member ofthe family who wasn't invited to
Getty's mansion, causing him toslide deeper and deeper into
his addiction.
John Paul Getty died fromprostate cancer alone sitting in
his favorite chair, at the ageof 83 on June 6, 1976.

(01:54:02):
Per his wishes, his body waslaid to rest for a week in the
Great Hall, but the onlymourners were the security
employed to protect his bodyfrom potential kidnappers.

Remi (01:54:14):
Yeah, who would give a shit about this old greedy
billionaire?

Ashley (01:54:20):
Well, the only one of his kids who went to the funeral
was Junior, marking the lasttime he would be photographed in
public for 10 years.
Other than the money from thetrust, the family pretty much
didn't receive anything else,since Getty wanted all of his
belongings to be displayed atthe John Paul Getty Museum in

(01:54:41):
Malibu.
Getty decided to create thismuseum to hold his art and
furniture collection in 1968.
He never laid eyes on what themedia dubbed a vulgar, tasteless
and straight out of Disneylandreplica of a Roman castle
destroyed by the eruption ofMount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

(01:55:03):
This didn't seem to botherGetty, though, since he saw the
museum as a tax-affected way tocontinue to accumulate wealth
long after his death.
Thanks to California's policyto count museums as charities,
the IRS couldn't collect taxeson the museum as long as the
director spent 4% of the valueon new acquisitions each year.

(01:55:26):
Since Gordon was the co-trusteeof the museum and the Sarah C
Getty Trust, which was valued at$1.8 billion at this time, he
became the richest and mostimportant member of the family.
After Giddy's death, ronaldfiled suit against both
organizations as he was thesingle offspring not entitled to

(01:55:48):
any trust money.
The museum did settle for $10million, but he got nowhere in
the lawsuit against the trust.
By the 1980s, the remainingbrothers were receiving $28
million each year from thetrust's dividends.
Within two years of thekidnapping, paul developed an
addiction to alcohol and drugsto help cope with the trauma

(01:56:10):
from his horrendous experience.
He did start taking minor rolesin Hollywood in 1981, which did
help him reduce his drinkingand drug use, since he
discovered he couldn't act whenwasted.
But he had a severe overdose onApril 5, 1981.
He had a stroke, fell into acoma, was put on life support

(01:56:30):
and sustained permanent liverand brain damage.
Once his brain started to swell, doctors put him into a deep
hibernation state, which was thefirst time this procedure was
used on a human.

Remi (01:56:42):
What is a hibernation state?

Ashley (01:56:46):
So basically, from what I could gather, he was in a coma
and they basically put him intoa deeper coma and the goal was
that by reducing your likebodily functions and brain
activation, that it would sloweverything down even more.
Your brain would unswell andthen they would slowly lift you
out of the coma.
So they do do that kind ofthing now, and they had done it

(01:57:10):
before this with animals to somepositive effect.
But Paul was the first personthey had done this on and
although when they startedlifting him out of this deep
hibernation state into the comahe was already in.
It did reduce the swelling onhis brain but he was still
unconscious and he stayedunconscious for six weeks.

(01:57:34):
Gail researched everything shecould find about comas, which in
1981 wasn't much, but sheemployed what she did find.
She talked to him, read to himand played his favorite music.
She also arranged for friendsand family to sit with him
around the clock.
Miraculously, after six weeksPaul's coma started to lift, but

(01:57:56):
he was paralyzed from the waistdown, could hardly see and
could barely talk.

Remi (01:58:01):
In the few photos I saw while doing my research for this
movie of the real life Paul.
He is in a wheelchair and myfirst assumption was it was
associated with the kidnappingin some capacity.
But this is the first I'veheard about what actually
happened to him and it's prettytragic.

Ashley (01:58:23):
And you could easily argue that it was a result of
the kidnapping, because he wasbasically fed brandy the entire
time he was kidnapped.
He got addicted to alcohol verysoon.
He was depressed and had severePTSD symptoms.
So he used drugs to combatthose.
And then when he tried to kickhis addiction, he did with the

(01:58:46):
help of several sedatives thatdoctors prescribed him.
So when he went into his comahe was prescribed morphine on
top of like four or five otherbenzos, and that's what put him
into his coma, poor Paul.
After he awoke, providers toldGail that Paul would be
bedridden and probably bestserved in an institution for the

(01:59:10):
rest of his life.
But she pushed back againstthat.
She turned her guest house intoa private clinic of sorts and
hired around-the-clock care.
Gordon was instrumental in this, as he made sure his nephew got
the best care money could buy.
After a year of refusing toshell out a single cent for his

(01:59:32):
son's medical expenses, juniorfinally agreed to chip in, but
the damage his reluctance did tohis relationship with his kids
had already been done.
Paul never fully recovered fromhis overdose, but he did slowly
regain some independence,articulation and strength as the
years progressed.
He died at the age of 51 onFebruary 5, 2011.

(01:59:55):
After the co-trustee and lawyerfor the Sarah C Getty Trust
died in 1982, gordon decided itwas time to learn more about the
state of Getty Oil, since itwas where the money was invested
.
He was met with opposition fromthe board, as they viewed him
as a simpleton and treated himas such.
In response to Gordon's probing, they tried to persuade family

(02:00:19):
members to file a court petitionto appoint Bank of America as
an additional trustee under thegrounds that Gordon was
incompetent.

Remi (02:00:28):
Never appoint Bank of America as your trustee.
That's just a warning to anyoneout there.

Ashley (02:00:34):
Well, oddly, their first choice in family members to do
this was Mark, which was one ofJunior's sons, and he was so
thrown off by this offer that hepersonally flew to California
to tell Gordon about the plan.
They then convinced Junior tofile a petition on behalf of
15-year-old Tara Gabriel GalaxyGramophone, but Gordon already

(02:00:58):
knew about their plan, so toblock it, he went to the
co-chairman of the Getty Museumand got him to join him.
With his help, gordon receivedenough stake in the company to
dismiss the entire board ofGetty Oil entirely and gain
primary control of the company.

(02:01:18):
In January 1984, he sold GettyOil to Texaco for $10 billion,
making it the largest corporateacquisition in US history at the
time.

Remi (02:01:31):
That is more money than I can even fathom.

Ashley (02:01:36):
Overnight, the value of the Sarah C Getty Trust leapt
from $1.8 to $4 billion, meaningGordon made more money in this
single deal than his father didin his entire lifetime.
However, not everyone in thefamily was happy with this
outcome.
Most notably, gordon's threedaughters went to court to

(02:01:59):
punish Gordon by forcing him topay taxes on the sale of Getty
Oil.
In response, gordon decided toput an end to the trust once and
for all.
After paying close to a billiondollars in taxes, he divvied up
the rest into four separatetrusts, giving each side of the
family control of their ownfinances.
Each side of the family controlof their own finances.

(02:02:23):
A fifth trust was created forRonald's children, but since he
couldn't ever prove Gettyintended to add him to the trust
, he essentially couldn't touchit.
While we're on the topic ofRonald, he invested everything
into the California buildingboom, but a hotel deal went
belly up and since he had theGetty name, creditors only went
after him for repayment.

(02:02:43):
Once he filed for bankruptcy inDecember 1992, gordon and Jr
set up a payment plan to helphim pay down the debt.
In order to reach a settlement,gordon also arranged for Ronald
to get an annual payment as apaid consultant for his own
family's trust.
He died at the age of 80 onJuly 13, 2009.

(02:03:06):
With Junior now receiving amillion dollars a week in
interest payments, he started tomake steps to improve his life.
Shortly after the merger withTexaco, he checked himself into
a long-term rehab clinic,started going to church and
worked on repairing hisrelationship with his kids.
He also began donating most ofhis funds to charity.

(02:03:27):
In 1985, he opened a charitabletrust and used the funds to
donate to environmentconservation and social aid
causes involving mental illness,addiction, homelessness aid
causes involving mental illness,addiction, homelessness and
abuse survivors.
He remarried in 1994 and diedfrom a chest infection at age 70
on April 17, 2003.

(02:03:50):
One of the last travesties tobefall the Getty family involved
Junior and Gil's daughterAileen.
She rebelled against her familyafter her brother's kidnapping
as she no longer trusted most ofthem.
By the age of 20, she wasaddicted to drugs, required
nasal surgery from the amount ofcocaine she was using and was

(02:04:10):
prone to bouts of depression.
She married Elizabeth Taylor'sson in 1980, but the couple
struggled to have children.
As luck would have it, shelearned she was pregnant
immediately after they adopted ason in a last-ditch effort to
save their marriage in 1984.
Eight months after her delivery, she tested positive for HIV.

(02:04:33):
As president of the AmericanFoundation for AIDS Research,
elizabeth Taylor was the bestsuited to provide Aileen the
support she desperately needed.
She let Aileen stay in hermansion and comforted her
whenever she needed, which,after reading this, made me have
so much respect for ElizabethTaylor.
This was at a stage in historywhen everyone was terrified of

(02:04:58):
HIV and Elizabeth Taylor waslike oh, I got you, I know about
it.

Remi (02:05:03):
Props to Liz.

Ashley (02:05:04):
Aileen was hopeless after learning about her
diagnosis and ramped up her druguse, causing her to lose her
marriage and children.
She was diagnosed withfull-blown AIDS and told she had
six months left to live inearly 1990.
Aileen was terrified aboutdying, but she also wanted to
advocate for better treatmentfor female AIDS survivors, which

(02:05:27):
she did through visits,campaigning and also planning a
hospice center.
She also started to kick herdrug habit and regain shared
custody of her children.
She's still alive to this dayand lives in an estate which she
purchased from Brad Pitt lastyear.
Gordon is the last living son ofJohn Paul Getty.

(02:05:48):
He is currently 90 years oldand made headlines again in the
late 1990s when he acknowledgedleading a secret double life
that included a mistress andthree daughters.
The latest Getty tragedyoccurred on April 1, 2015, when
his 47-year-old son, andrew, wasfound dead in his home in the

(02:06:10):
Hollywood Hills.
The cause of death was anulcer-related hemorrhage,
complicated by methamphetamineintoxication and heart disease.
And that is the true story ofRidley Scott's All the Money in
the World.
Well, remy, what did you thinkabout that wild ride of a
summary of not only thekidnapping, but of the Gettys as

(02:06:33):
a family?

Remi (02:06:34):
I have always had a fascination with the super
wealthy and how they got towhere they got, and I think it
is one of the more fascinatingstories that is in that sort of
genre.
I guess I am astonished withthe greed, I am astonished with

(02:06:55):
the amount of children that wereleft out of the film and it is
really just flabbergasting whata selfish greedy prick this guy
was.
What do you think, Ash?

Ashley (02:07:05):
One thing I found really interesting was how Getty made
his money really out of spite tohis dad for writing him out of
the will, and Ronald followeddown that same path, albeit much
to a lower success rate, thatis for sure.

Remi (02:07:22):
Spite is a strangely powerful motivator.
With that we are going to trotalong to our section of the show
, which is our objection of theweek.
Your Honor I object.
And why is that, Mr Reed?
Because it's devastating to mycase.

Ashley (02:07:41):
Overruled.
Good call.
Remy, why don't you kick thisone off?
Because I have two, so I wantto see if one of the ones I have
you're going to take.

Remi (02:07:50):
Alright, and again for those listeners who are just
joining us for the first timeand might not be familiar, our
objection of the week is achange made in the film
adaptation of the true story.
That was completely superfluousand meaningless and pointless
Like why even bother making thatchange?
So for this week my objectionis the fact that in the film

(02:08:14):
Paul is kidnapped in a van.
You know they hop out and throwPaul into the back, but in
reality he was kidnapped in aFiat.
So that is my objection of theweek.

Ashley (02:08:25):
I didn't catch that one and that's a really, really good
one.
The one I'm going to go with, Iknow, is when you had written
down, and that was the fact thatthey said one million of the
ransom would have been taxdeductible, when it was really
2.2 million.

Remi (02:08:42):
And the ransom was lowered to 3.2 and not 4 million.
So again there's like strangelittle number variations going
on that I guess are for dramaticpurposes, but the car thing I
don't know.
I think that one's prettypointless.

Ashley (02:08:53):
Yeah, I'm gonna ditto that one and you take the cake
on this one.

Remi (02:08:57):
Two in a row one and you take the cake on this one, two
in a row, sustained, doublesustained.

Speaker 1 (02:09:03):
All right, and now we will carry on to the final
portion of our podcast at theconclusion of each episode, our
hosts will deliver a verdictbased on the film's accuracy.
If the film is an honestportrayal of the events, then it
will earn a not guilty verdict.
If the adaptation is mostlyfactual but creative liberties
were taken for the sake ofentertainment, the film will be

(02:09:26):
declared a mistrial.
But if the film ultimatelystrays too far from the truth,
then it will be condemned asguilty and sentenced to a life
behind bars.

Remi (02:09:36):
And since I kicked things off for our objection portion,
Ashley, would you like to tellme what your verdict is?

Ashley (02:09:44):
Yes, I will.
I'm pretty surprised at myverdict, and I think you are too
.
But hear me out, I am givingall the money in the world a
guilty verdict.

Remi (02:09:56):
Okay, you're going to have to explain this one.

Ashley (02:09:59):
So it is just pretty much focusing on the kidnapping
only, since all the other stuffwas omitted, which is fine.
That's not my issue with it.
I have several differences ordiscrepancies that I noticed as
you were talking.
Some of the smaller ones arelike where Fletcher first met
Gail at Giddy's house instead ofat her apartment in Rome, which

(02:10:23):
, whatever.
I also think that Fletcher'sentire role in the film was
ramped up.
He sounds like he was justdoing so much more than he
actually was and I think hischaracter was kind of a
composite of both him, who he'sbased on, and also the former

(02:10:46):
FBI agent that Richard Nixonsent to help.
But really my biggest qualmabout the film is just how Getty
was depicted.
He doesn't come off as ruthlessas he is talked about in the
book and at some points he kindof seemed like fun and funny and

(02:11:07):
just kind of more caring thanwhat I took away while reading
the source material that thismovie is based on.
Perhaps the biggest issue Ihave is pretty much everything
from the custody arrangement onisn't how the kidnapping really
went down.
The custody arrangement thingwas different than what was

(02:11:27):
really decided upon.
The rescue efforts and how theransom was exchanged was
different.
The whole succession thing theythrew in the end with like Gail
and her kids getting invitedinto that was not true at all.
And then the escape scene theyadded.
That was nowhere in any of thematerial I read.
So for those reasons I'm sayingit's guilty.

Remi (02:11:52):
Follow-up question to that .
You mentioned that Geddysounded like he was portrayed a
bit more warm and caring in thefilm.
Do you think that's somethingthat came down to performance?
Do you think Kevin Spacey wouldhave portrayed Getty as the
more ruthless, cold-heartedperson that he was?
I'm not saying that ChristopherPlummer portrayed Getty as

(02:12:13):
friendly or anything, but he wasmore approachable than I feel
like Kevin Spacey would haveportrayed him, if that makes
sense.

Ashley (02:12:21):
Yeah, that's a good point.
I can definitely see how thatwould come across.

Remi (02:12:25):
Well, that was a very daring bold verdict on your part
, ashley.
I don't think I'm going to bequite that bold.
I am going to go with amistrial, and this is one of the
few times we disagree.
Usually we see eye to eye onthese things.
A big part of why I am givingthis film a mistrial is because

(02:12:46):
this film did the rare thingwhere at the beginning and end
of the film they emphasize thefact that large portions of this
film were made up for dramaticpurposes.
They have that appear beforethe credits at the end and it is
the first thing you see at thebeginning.
So this whole film is bookendedwith warnings saying take all

(02:13:07):
this with a pinch of salt.
I almost count that as aconfession on their part.
So I would give this film amistrial based on that.
I do think that there are a lotof key points that are
dramatized for the film, but alot of key points are still
there.
The framework is there.
I see the story still there.

(02:13:29):
Is it a good depiction of thestory?
An accurate one?
Probably not, but I do thinkthat the framework of the story
is still there.
So it's a weak mistrial verdictfrom me.

Ashley (02:13:42):
And those are all fair points.
We can now let the audiencedecide, and if you are listening
to this and would like to letus know what you think, please
do reach out at CriminalAdaptations, either on Instagram
or Gmail.

Remi (02:13:57):
And we also have a TikTok and, like Ashley said, an
Instagram.
Everything is at criminaladaptations All of our social
media.
If you want to reach out to usFor any questions, comments or,
better yet, if you would like toleave us a five star review.
That really helps the algorithmand help get the word out and
hopefully some more people canjoin in and listen If you've

(02:14:18):
been enjoying and comment.
Hopefully some more people canjoin in and listen.
If you've been enjoying andcomment something nice, we will
read it on the air and thank youand you will have a praise on a
podcast that you can save inyour podcast library or
something like that.
That is it for this week,ashley.
What are we doing next week?

Ashley (02:14:35):
Next week we're doing a movie and story that I had never
heard of before, but it isbased on the murder of a man
called Bob Crane, who got famousthrough his role in the TV
series Hogan's Heroes, which Ihave never seen.
I think I've heard the namebefore but knew nothing about
what the plot is.
But the movie is calledAutofocus, and all I know about

(02:14:59):
it is from what you've told meand that it has William Dafoe in
it.

Remi (02:15:03):
I saw this movie back when I was a teenager.
It was that point in my lifewhere I was seeking out messed
up films and when I heard aboutthis and the true story
background about Bob Crane beinga sexual deviant and supposedly
murdered by someone who hadbeen videotaping his deviancies
for him.

(02:15:23):
And I don't remember a tonabout it, but I do remember.
I liked it back in the day andI'm looking forward to
revisiting it next week.
But until then, everyone, thankyou again.
Court is adjourned.

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