The story of the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III has been told many times before. After all, the crime took place in 1973 and has been fodder for newspaper stories, books, and gossip ever since; a feature film about the ordeal even landed in theaters late last year. Still, there’s something that remains fascinating about the crime and its victims—lucky for the new series Trust, now airing on FX, which takes a deep new look at how one of the world’s most privileged families handled a very public tragedy.
The series stars Donald Sutherland as the oil magnate J. Paul Getty, Harris Dickinson as his doomed grandson, and Michael Esper as John Paul Getty Jr., the billionaire’s son and the young man’s father. Here, Esper explains the enduring interest in the gruesome story, the appeal of playing a troubled character, and what went into portraying the lives of some of the richest people the world has ever known.
This is a story that’s a few decades old but never seems to lose its sense of importance. Do you remember when you first became aware of it?
I was woefully ignorant of the story of the kidnapping before the project came my way. I knew who the Gettys were, but it wasn’t until the series came up that I really started digging in and figuring out all the details of the kidnapping. I was just stunned—I’m not surprised that it’s been so captivating; it’s such a rich, and horrifying, and fascinating story.
And what about it made you want to spent a chunk of your life with this kind of dark, upsetting material?
Tthe first thing that attracted me to the series—before I even got to read it—was knowing about the people involved. Just knowing Danny Boyle was directing, and Simon Beaufoy was writing, and Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank and Brendan Fraser and Harris Dickinson were on board… Knowing that I could have the opportunity to work with artists who I admire just as much as I admire those people just totally flipped me out.
And then once I actually started reading the script, and started doing some research on the people involved in the events, I was so compelled and drawn to it. Something happens when you’re an actor and you’re reading something and your imagination takes over.
This is a much deeper dive than other actors have had with the same character. What does this first season have in store for him?
He evolves from a very deep argument with his father, and from his need for his father to love and approve of hi, which is in conflict with his need to become his own man. I think the kidnapping really brings all of those things to a head. And all of the difference strains that are running through him converge in this moment of crisis with the kidnapping of his son, with his need to be a father and his need to win with his own father, and I think it sort of breaks him in a way that is ultimately very good for him, but is extremely painful over the course of the show.
So, there have been other recent depictions of this story. Why are people so interested in retelling this tale right now?
I think that there’s a kind of lie at the heart of the so-called American Dream. Which is that there’s a drive to accumulate money and power, and there’s an idea that we learn about what those things will grant us once we accumulate them. I think there’s a fascination with stories that confront those ideas and wrestle with those ideas head on. In reality, money and power can be incredibly corrupting influences, and maybe they don’t provide us with all of the things that we’re led to believe that they do. I think the world is certainly having that conversation right now on a geopolitical level, and the conversations about money, and power, and the abuses of those things, and morality, and humanity, and all of those things in conflict. Can you be rich and decent? I’m not saying you cant, but I think it’s an issue that we’re collectively fascinated with right now and I think it’s a good conversation to be having.
Absolutely. And to portray that kind of rich… Was there anything about it that surprised you? It was a world before Instagram or reality TV when we couldn’t all see inside people’s lives.
The first time I flew first-class, I remember feeling shocked by what a completely different experience it was—and it wasn’t just that it was a little bit nicer. It was like just a little taste of this entire world that I didn’t even understand existed. It’s not just that people with access to that kind of wealth live more comfortably than people without it, it’s that it’s a whole different way of being in the world. I don’t even know where to start. There’s all of the superficial things—the enormity of the estates, the beauty of the homes, the level of people taking care of your every need—and it’s very easy to see how that would impact your perspective on everything. But I did walk away with a better understanding of just how isolating that world can also be, and how easy it can be to suffer privately when you’re not necessarily forced to go out in the world and make your own way.
Adam Rathe is Town & Country's Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
