Money can’t buy love or bring any form of happiness, apparently. It’s a lesson well learned and one of the main themes in the biting and unsettling crime drama Trust, the short-lived FX thriller that ran for one season in 2018. The series is loosely based upon one of the most infamous kidnappings in American history, when John Paul Getty III, heir to billionaire J. Paul Getty, was kidnapped in Rome and held for ransom. Donald Sutherland stars in the series as J. Paul Getty, and a young Harris Dickinson plays his grandson, Paul Getty. Hilary Swank co-starred in the series as Paul’s mother, Gail Getty.
Trust is a visually stunning series and cinematic experience. It calls back the stylish, gritty atmosphere of 70s cinema with its tracking shots, split screens, and jarring jump cuts. Set in 1973, it’s a swirling, underrated period piece, and its unlikable main characters and difficult subject matter made it hard to engage viewers. It’s too bad because the series featured an array of fantastic character actors doing their best work, like Brendan Fraser as a spunky Texas cowboy hunting down Paul in Rome, in addition to performances by Michael Esper, Luca Marinelli, Anna Chancellor, and Nicola Rignanese as crime lord, Don Salvatore. Running for 10 episodes, the series came under fire from the Getty family, who threatened a lawsuit due to its unsavory and allegedly false portrayals of the family. But, Trust remains a provocative exploration of greed and American wealth, with terrific lead performances from Sutherland and Swank.
What is ‘Trust’ About?
Trust follows the saga of the Getty family throughout the 70s, during a time of incredible unrest and crime. The series begins before the kidnapping of Paul Getty on the massive estate of J. Paul Getty, who resides in a grand mansion in Britain. J. Paul is hated by most of his family, including his sons, and his cold demeanor and greed make him an excellent oil tycoon but a terrible father and grandfather. His son, John Paul Getty Jr. (Michael Esper), is the most embittered of the sons, a former addict who desperately wants to be included in his family’s business. When John Paul Jr.’s hard-partying son, 16-year-old Paul (Harris Dickinson), shows up, J. Paul unexpectedly takes him under his wing and attempts to groom him as the heir to his empire. But Paul is there under a ruse to get the six thousand dollars he owes back where he’s staying in Rome.
When J. Paul discovers Paul’s true motives and wild lifestyle, he gets kicked out. Upon his return to Rome, Paul is kidnapped by a vicious mafia run by Don Salvatore, and the violent Primo serves as the leader in his kidnapping. A ransom is sent to J. Paul, who refuses to pay it, while Paul is held in terrible conditions. His mother, Gail Getty, begins searching for Paul with the help of a quirky private investigator and former CIA Agent, Fletcher Chase (Brandon Fraser). As kidnapping conditions worsen, including the Getty’s infamously getting sent Paul’s severed ear, J. Paul comes under fire in the media and by his family, forcing him to decide between money and blood.
Donald Sutherland Is Cold as Ice as J. Paul Getty
Donald Sutherland chowed down on one of his most evil roles to date as the formidable J. Paul Getty. He makes media mogul Logan Roy, played by Brian Cox in Succession, look like child’s play. Having everything he needs in his gluttonous lifestyle, Sutherland’s portrayal is clever in his physical performance, and he barely ever moves. Instead, he has everyone move for him because he quite literally doesn’t even have to lift a finger. Much of Sutherland’s power and terror comes in his trademark, chilling blue eyes that he inflicts upon his family.
When the naive, 60s flower child Paul arrives with ulterior motives to get money from his grandfather, J. Paul sees the perfect chance to mold a young mind into corruption. Dickinson and Sutherland are fantastic together in the first episode, which sets up the ongoing conflict the two will have a world apart, as Paul stands for everything his grandfather isn’t. Dickinson plays Paul like a live wire that can’t sit still and is very much a child trying to make it in an adult world as he wanders around the mansion like a kid lost in candy land. Sutherland expertly plays the antithesis of him by being void of life with no curiosity or wonder, so much so that he gets his butlers to do everything for him. The most chilling scenes in the series come when J. Paul is alone with servants, including one such moment where Sutherland has a servant brush his teeth. This is where Trust becomes a clever satire on class, implying that by having everything in the world, J. Paul has basically become a baby who has never grown up.
Receiving critical acclaim for his performance, J. Paul is one of Sutherland’s most underrated roles. Known as a chameleon throughout his career for playing good and bad guys, here, Sutherland proves why he was one of the greatest and most utilized actors in Hollywood since the 70s. In the Getty family, money is practically a curse, and as J. Paul is always dressed in black and lurks in corners while one family member after another faces downfalls and death, he’s like the Grim Reaper himself. Sutherland is fearlessly vulnerable in the vulgar moments of J. Paul’s life, like getting bathed in a tub like an infant or pathetically getting dressed by staff. It adds to his detestable character, but then also got the series in hot waters when the Getty family rebuked Trust‘s portrayal of the infamous oil tycoon.
The Getty Family Threatened Legal Action Against ‘Trust’ For Its “False Depictions”
Trust is, first and foremost, a television series, and while it is based on an actual real-life event, it takes up many creative liberties. The series is a very damming examination of the Getty family during a rough time, and though it’s a crime thriller, it’s also a darkly funny satire on wealth. It feels like Succession at times, as fully grown adults fight like children for the affection of their father and moan in misery as they battle drug addictions and affairs while soaking in money. Due to J. Paul’s particularly volatile character and shocking scenes of apathy amidst his grandson’s kidnapping, the Getty family threatened legal action due to its defaming portrayal of him. Despite never following through, it was a searing accusation of false portrayals.
Family lawyer Marty Singerwrote a threatening letter to FX and the series and requested to review all future episodes of Trust before its release, saying, “It is ironic that you have titled your television series Trust…More fitting titles would be Lies or Mistrust since the defamatory story it tells about the Gettys’ colluding in the kidnapping is false and misleading, and viewers rightly ought to mistrust it.” Singer went on to say that Sutherland’s J. Paul Getty was “a cruel and mean-spirited defamatory depiction.”
Hilary Swank Fearlessly Hunts Down the Mob Alongside Brendan Fraser
Where the darkness of the series lies in Donald Sutherland’s relentless portrayal of greed, Hilary Swank adds light to the show as Gail Getty, an unwavering mother in search of her son. Swank often plays headstrong women, but here, she expertly plays a mother who has lived for decades in a family of privileged white men who’ve viewed her as nothing more than a person who bears children. It’s riveting to watch Swank quite literally emerge from the shadows as Gail as the series continues. A pinnacle moment comes from the stand-out episode of the series, episode 2, “Lone Star.” In this rare, upbeat episode, she and her excellent scene partner, Brandon Fraser as Fletcher, team up on their hunt for Paul.
At the episode’s end, an unsuccessful search leads an exuberant Fletcher to determine that the kidnapping is a hoax. Swank then has a scene at night with a performance artist in Rome, who works as a statue, where she gets to shine for the first time. In the quiet scene, the madness of the series, with all its violence, sex, and money, disappears and leaves a frantic mother in search of her child, which is the core story of the series. Gail cries and offers her expensive jewels to the mute statue, who doesn’t care about treasures. She comes to the full realization that money cannot buy everything in the world, and the ring on her finger is useless. At this moment, she becomes everything the Getty family is not, and Swank’s tears add a layer of jarring humanity to a show that doesn’t care about anything but wealth.
Fraser joyfully adds a fun wackiness as the Texas CIA native in the episode. And Trust‘s coolest cinematography comes when they shoot him like a fish out of water hunting the streets of Rome, intermingling with the locals, and playing dumb American card games. With the split shots of him strutting down streets in sunglasses and cowboy hats, the show looks like it walked straight out of the 70s. Serving as the series narrator, Fraser also gets to spit out some of the best lines, including a crucial line that sums up the show: “Turns out a rich life is just as messed up as a poor life. Just a different kind of messed up. Kidnapped? Not kidnapped? Dead? Alive?… The mess was just getting started, but you already knew that.”
Dickinson’s portrayal of the helpless Paul, kidnapped and bound, as he’s still practically a child, brings a sobering reality to an at times soap opera-like drama with lavish, sappy monologues from Sutherland’s J. Paul.Clearly a star on the rise, Dickinson is fascinating as the unruly young Getty, and his unsettling vulnerability as he screams, cries, and gets tortured in captivity are the show’s most heartbreaking moments. Unfortunately, Trust got swept under the rug, thanks to the flashier film that was also based upon the Getty Kidnapping, All the Money in the World. Coming out a year prior in 2017 and starring Christopher Plummer and Michelle Williams, the controversy surrounding the making and release of the film directed by Ridley Scott overpowered the FX series when it was released the following year. But, it does not detract from Trust’s boisterous, scary portrayal of a titanic family who were destined to sink, one way or another.
Trust is available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
WATCH ON HULU
