What is “All the Money in the World” about? A whole lot of cash, and even more drama
Picture it: You’re the richest man in the world. Your teenage grandson was kidnapped by the Italian mob while living abroad in Europe. The boy’s mother, desperate to rescue her son from certain death, pleads for your help in paying off the kidnappers’ multi-million dollar ransom. What do you do?
If you’re greedy, heartless J. Paul Getty, you don’t do a damn thing. Don’t believe us? Hollywood made a major motion picture about it. Directed by famed filmmaker Ridley Scott, All The Money in the World details the 1973 kidnapping of Getty’s estranged grandson, John Paul Getty III, by a Rome-based organized crime ring.
But if you think that’s all there is to know about this shocking story, think again. Twists and turns abound in this stranger-than-fiction real-life retelling of that time when an old white man with more money than God screwed over someone he purported to love to pinch a few precious pennies, while a mother risked her life for the safe return of her child.
#TooReal? Good thing in 2018, All The Money in the World‘s just a movie.
So, what is the film All The Money in the World about? One word: drama.
But it’s the behind-the-scenes drama, rather than the on-screen kind, that made headlines in recent weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXHrCBkIxQQ?feature=oembed
After actor Anthony Rapp accused All The Money in the World actor Kevin Spacey of making sexual advances toward him when he was 17 years old, Spacey, originally cast as J. Paul Getty, was cut and recast with actor Christopher Plummer. Literally six weeks before the movie was scheduled to come out!
What a twist!
Then, in an eerie example of art imitating life, news broke that Mark Wahlberg, who plays negotiator and former CIA operative Fletcher Chase in the movie, refused to reshoot the film unless he got millions. Not a big deal, expect that the film’s leading lady, Michelle Williams, offered to reshoot All The Money in The World for free, unaware that Wahlberg was pocketing more than his fair share all along. Eight times more, to be exact.
We did NOT see that one coming!
But thankfully, both All The Money in the World the movie, as well the drama the making of the movie inspired IRL, end happily-ish. Spacey’s replacement, Plummer, is up for the Academy Awards’ Best Actor honor. And Wahlberg righted his wrong by making a $1.5 million donation to Time’s Up, the total of his reshoot earnings.
Don’t worry. We won’t spoil the ending of All The Money in the World for you. We’ll just say, whether you’re billionaire J. Paul Getty, Mark Wahlberg, or an average joe, greed is definitely NOT a good look.
