BBC Picks Up Danny Boyle’s Getty Kidnap Drama ‘Trust’
By Stewart Clarke
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The BBC has acquired “Trust,” Danny Boyle’s FX drama based on the true-life kidnapping of the heir to billionaire John Paul Getty, one of the world’s wealthiest businessmen.
Donald Sutherland (“The Hunger Games”) plays John Paul Getty, Sr., the oil tycoon, art collector and head of the Getty family. Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby”), Brendan Fraser (“The Mummy”), and Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats) also star in the series, which tackles the same topic as Ridley Scott’s recent film, “All the Money in the World.”
“” opens in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III (Dickinson), known as Paul, in Rome. The Getty fortune heir’s captors bank on a multimillion-dollar ransom, but back in England, Paul’s wealthy grandfather refuses to pay up. With Paul’s father (Michael Esper) lost in a drug-induced daze, it is left to Paul’s mother, the penniless Gail Getty (Swank), to negotiate with both the kidnappers and her stubborn former father-in-law.
“Trust” was created by Simon Beaufoy and executive produced by Boyle, Beaufoy and Christian Colson – the Academy Award-winning team behind “Slumdog Millionaire.” Boyle, who is now working on the new James Bond film, directed the first three of the 10 episodes. Variety described “Trust” as a “stylish, multilayered new miniseries.”
The real-life kidnap tale was also the subject of “,” which saw Christopher Plummer replace Kevin Spacey in the role of Getty and land an Oscar nomination .
“The Getty family have captured the public’s imagination like few others, and there is no better team to re-imagine their story for television than the award-winning trio of Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson,” said Sue Deeks, head of program acquisition.
The BBC will air “Trust” this fall. It bought the show from 20th Century Fox Television Distribution.
U.S. drama acquisitions are always under the microscope at the BBC, which is charged with backing local production and talent, but the pubcaster has picked up several shows for BBC Two. Both “Feud” and “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” have played on the free-to-air channel.
