Synopsis

When 16-year-old John Paul Getty III is kidnapped in Rome, his mother, Gail, pleads with the boy's billionaire grandfather to pay the ransom. Getty refuses, insisting that money would encourage further attacks. With her son in danger and the family unwilling to help, Gail works with a former CIA operative to negotiate with the kidnappers and bring Paul home.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is based on John Pearson's 1995 book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty.

• The story dramatizes the real 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Italy. The kidnappers initially demanded $17 million, an enormous sum even by the standards of the Getty fortune.

• Kevin Spacey's completed performance as J. Paul Getty was removed after sexual misconduct allegations became public in 2017. Christopher Plummer, who had previously been considered for the role, replaced him.

• Plummer's scenes were reshot in roughly eight to ten days, only weeks before the film's planned theatrical release. The emergency production work reportedly added about $10 million to the budget.

• The reshoots led to a highly publicized pay-disparity controversy involving Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg. After the story drew widespread criticism, Wahlberg donated his reported $1.5 million reshoot fee to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund in Williams' name.

• Despite the last-minute recasting, the film reached theaters on December 25, 2017. Plummer received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.