Star Michelle Williams on
recreating a true-life “nightmare”
for Ridley Scott’s crime thriller
that was tax deductible), but by then Paul had
been starved and beaten and had his ear hacked
off by his captors.
“Gail was plunged into this surreal
nightmare,” says Williams of a woman who had
only one ally during the ordeal, Fletcher Chase
(Mark Wahlberg), a former CIA agent sent by
Getty to investigate the kidnapping — and even
he, like others, thought it was all a hoax at fi rst.
“What’s interesting to me regarding the story
is that it’s about one woman trying to operate in
a man’s world,” says Williams. “The constant
question was that if she was a man, how different
would it have been? Over the course of the fi lm,
Gail transforms into a hardened negotiator, not
just with the Mafi a who stole her son, but going
toe-to-toe with Getty himself, the most ruthless
negotiator in the world. In a way, she becomes
almost Getty-esque. I absolutely adore Harris.
She had no real leverage but she never fell apart.
She managed to stay strong, direct and clear-
headed, right up until her son’s release.”
Harris clearly slots into the Ridley tradition of
powerfully rendered and complex female leads — a
formidable, whip-smart survivor, as resourceful as
Ripley, as defi ant as Thelma and Louise. “Exactly.
And God bless him for being drawn to these kind
of roles for women,” says Williams. “I’m not sure
it’s acknowledged as much as it should, but it says
a lot about the kind of guy Ridley is.”
And perhaps also the kind of guy who can
direct her to a fi rst Oscar win.POP QUIZ. WHAT links Brokeback
Mountain, Blue Valentine, My Week With
Marilyn and Manchester By The Sea? They
all feature an Academy-acclaimed turn from
Michelle Williams — now offi cially the most
Oscar-nominated actor born during the ’80s.
Renowned for inhabiting haunted, heartbreaking
fi gures, the early buzz suggests Williams’ streak is
set to continue as the lead in Ridley Scott’s
kidnap drama, All The Money In The World.
Crashing back down to Earth after Alien:
Covenant, Scott’s fi lm spins a tragic true story. In
the summer of ’73, the Mafi a snatched 16-year-
old John Paul Getty III from the streets of Rome.
Paul’s billionaire granddad, John Paul Getty
(Christopher Plummer, replacing Kevin Spacey),
refused to pay the $17 million ransom, leaving
his mother, Gail Harris, to negotiate her son’s
release. After a fi ve-month stand-off, Getty
coughed up $2.2 million (the maximum amount
WORDS SIMON CROOK
HELD TO RANSOM
Gail Harris (Michelle
Williams) pleads for the
return of her kidnapped
son. Below, top to
bottom: Director Ridley
Scott on location in Italy
with Williams; Gail with
her only ally, former CIA
agent Fletcher Chase
(Mark Wahlberg, right),
and The Doctor
(Maurizio Lombardi,
left); Scott gives
direction to Williams
and Wahlberg on set.FIRST LOOK
EXCLUSIVEALL THE
MONEY IN
THE WORLD
OUT 4 JANUARY 2018