Trust

Trust Information

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Trust is an American anthology drama television series created by Simon Beaufoy that premiered on March 25, 2018 on FX. The 10-episode first season, written by Beaufoy and directed by Danny Boyle and others, is set in 1973 and recounts the abduction of John Paul Getty III, then-heir to Getty Oil, while he was in Italy.

Premise

Trust follows "the trials and triumphs of one of America's wealthiest and unhappiest families, the Gettys. Told over multiple seasons and spanning the 20th century, the series begins in 1973 with the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, an heir to the Getty oil fortune, by the Italian mafia in Rome."

Cast and characters

Main

Donald Sutherland as J. Paul Getty
Hilary Swank as Gail Getty
Harris Dickinson as John Paul Getty III
Michael Esper as John Paul Getty Jr.
Luca Marinelli as Primo
Hannah New as Victoria
Giuseppe Battiston as Bertolini
Sophie Winkleman as Margot
Vernica Echegui as Luciana
Francesco Colella as Leonardo
Donatella Finocchiaro as Regina
Giovanni D'Aleo as Francesco
Nicola Rignanese as Don Salvatore
Niccol Senni as Stephano "Fifty" Nizutto
Anna Chancellor as Penelope Kittson
Amanda Drew as Belinda
Andrea Arcangeli as Angelo
Mauro Lamanna as Dante
Silas Carson as Bullimore
Jo Stone-Fewings as Dennis
Laura Bellini as Gisela Martine Zacher
Sarah Bellini as Jutta Winklemann
Charlotte Riley as Robina Lund
Brendan Fraser as James Fletcher Chace

Recurring

David Agranov as J. Ronald Getty
David Bamber as Bela Von Block
John Schwab as Lang Jeffries
Norbert Leo Butz as Gordon Getty
Kiersten Wareing as Cockney Pauline

Guest

Filippo Valle as George Getty
Lynda Boyd as Jacqueline Getty
Bella Dayne as Talitha Getty
Lucy Gentili as Ariadne Getty
Rob Brydon as Richard Nixon

Notes Template:Notelist

Episodes

|Viewers         = 0.796
|ShortSummary    = Following the suicide of George Getty, J. Paul Getty is looking for an heir for his oil business, the Getty Oil Company. He meets with his grandson J. Paul Getty III and shows him around his business. While in Italy, J. Paul Getty III gets kidnapped by gangsters led by Primo.
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|Viewers         = 0.736
|ShortSummary    = J. Paul Getty dispatches his chief of security James Fletcher Chace to Italy to investigate J. Paul Getty III's disappearance. To make precautions so that nobody else in his family is kidnapped, J. Paul Getty has bars placed on the windows of his mansion and advises his relatives to hire bodyguards to protect them if they are targeted.
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|Viewers         = 0.602
|ShortSummary    = Prior to his kidnapping, J. Paul Getty III was enjoying his time in Italy. In the present, Primo and his minions hear that J. Paul Getty refuses to pay the ransom where he thinks that it is a hoax. In addition, Primo informs his uncle Don Salvadore about his plot which he agrees to assist in.
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|Viewers         = 0.495
|ShortSummary    = After Primo enlists his lawyer cousin codenamed Fifty to be his group's representative where he has a no eye-contact meeting with Gail at the movie theater who gives her a picture of her son with one of Primo's dead associates. After receiving a copy of it in the fax, J. Paul Getty dispatches James Fletcher Chace back to Italy to head up the negotiations. Meanwhile, Bullimore becomes friends with the gardener Dennis after J. Paul Getty unleashed his dogs on him.
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|Viewers         = 0.538
|ShortSummary    = To help Don Salvadore, Primo and his uncle Leonardo mobilize the local community and their dogs when their minion Angelo makes off with J. Paul Getty III. Meanwhile, Gail and James await the next part of the captors' demands while J. Paul Getty declines help from people to pay the ransom.
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|Viewers         = 0.666
|ShortSummary    = When a burnt body shows up on the beach, the Getty family fears the worst until Gail does another look at the corpse and finds that it has tied shoelaces which J. Paul Getty III hardly ties. It also has no foot scar which J Paul Getty III obtained when he was younger. It is then revealed that the body is not Little Paul's, but Angelo's. With J. Paul Getty III confirmed to be alive and being confronted by J. Paul Getty II about what had happened to his previous sons, J. Paul Getty has James arrange a parley with Don Salvadore.
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|Viewers         = 0.382
|ShortSummary    = In the past, J. Paul Getty does different interactions with his son and grandson like their trip to Italy and J. Paul Getty II working at a gas station owned by Getty Oil. In the present, J. Paul Getty moves ahead with his plans to have the ransom paid.
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|Viewers         = 0.567
|ShortSummary    = Leonardo celebrates his son Francesco's confirmation with his family and his Italian mob contacts. Displeased that J. Paul Getty cancelled the ransom exchange, Don Salvator and his minions talk about what to do next as Francesco wants to prove himself to Leonardo.
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|Viewers         = 0.544
|ShortSummary    = After Francesco follows J. Paul Getty III's advice to cut off his right ear to buy him some time, Don Salvator has the ear delivered to the local newspaper disguised as delivery men due to a postal worker strike. While J. Paul Getty II is hesitant to oversee the ransom exchange, Gail and James do it while following instructions that involve riding a white car, wearing white, having the money in white suitcases and driving in the snowy parts of the mountains until they hear the sound of small rocks hitting their car.
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|Viewers         = 0.546
|ShortSummary    =  In light of J. Paul Getty III being rescued, James Fletcher Chace narrates to the viewers on what happened afterwards. J. Paul Getty III has recovered in the hospital where Gail does not believe the fact that her son was responsible for what has transpired. He gets engaged to Gisela where the ceremony is attended by J. Ronald Getty and Gordon Getty. After not wanting to talk to his grandson on the phone, J. Paul Getty hears that the J. Paul Getty Museum was criticized by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times and has a tantrum. Gail is later seen cradling her grandchild Balthazar Getty following his birth. After killing Fifty and Don Salvatore, Primo discusses future plans with Leonardo where they build a port at the edge of the Tyrrhenian Sea using the ransom money to build a cocaine empire that Primo brings Francesco into. James mentions that two of the nine kidnappers were sentenced to prison while the others were acquitted due to lack of evidence. Penelope leaves J. Paul Getty to live with her affair in a London house while Belinda leaves with her unborn child. Victoria has J. Paul Getty II checked into a drug rehab. Bullimore reunites with Dennis at the Marylebone Cricket Club. As for James, he arrives at a house where he introduces himself to a boy named Alex as the father that he never knew.
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Production

Development

On March 9, 2016, it was announced that FX had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series had been developed at FX due to a "first look" deal between Danny Boyle and the network. Boyle is expected to executive produce the series alongside Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson. Beaufoy is also expected to write the series and Boyle is expected to direct. Production companies involved with the series include FX Productions, Cloud Eight Films, Decibel Films, and Snicket Films Limited.

Casting

In April 2017, it was announced that Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank had joined the main cast in the roles of J. Paul Getty and Gail Getty, respectively. On May 15, 2017, it was reported that Harris Dickinson had been cast in the starring role of J. Paul Getty III. In June 2017, Brendan Fraser and Michael Esper joined the production as a series regulars in the roles of James Fletcher Chace and John Paul Getty II, respectively. Additionally, it was announced that Veronica Echegui had been cast in a recurring role. On July 14, 2017, it was announced that Hannah New had joined the series in a recurring capacity.

Filming

The series began shooting in 2017 in Rome, Italy.

Release

Marketing

On January 9, 2018, FX released the first official trailer for the series.

Controversy

On March 16, 2018, it was reported that Ariadne Getty, John Paul Getty III's sister, was considering legal action against FX and the producers of the series. Her attorney Martin Singer released a statement calling the series a "wildly sensationalized false portrayal" of the Getty family and that "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." In the statement, Singer went on to explain how his client objects to the alleged portrayal of the family as having played a role in the kidnapping themselves and that he considers it to be defamatory to falsely accuse someone of a crime.

Simon Beaufoy has stated that his decision to depict Getty as complicit in his own kidnapping was justified by his research into the matter, though none of the written biographies explicitly reach that conclusion. He stated that while reading Charles Fox's 2013 biography of Paul III, Uncommon Youth, "It became clear, reading in between the lines... that he actually kidnapped himself..." According to his theory, the plot then spiraled out of Paul's control when his grandfather refused to pay, causing several of his captors to sell their interest to a syndicate of more ruthless Mafiosi.

Renewal plans

On January 5, 2018, the series' producers appeared at the annual Television Critics Association's winter press tour during a panel discussion of the show. Simon Beaufoy spoke about the tentative plans for a potential second season, saying, "The idea is to go back to the 1930s to discover how John Paul Getty I became this extraordinary person with this huge hole in his soul." He went on to add that FX was pleased with how the first season had turned out and that he would be interested in returning for subsequent seasons.

Reception

The first season of Trust has been met with a positive reception from critics. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 75% approval rating with an average rating of 6.62 out of 10, based on 40 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Donald Sutherland delivers a powerful turn as the titular Getty in Trust, yet another telling of the affluent family's saga." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 67 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Matt Zoller Seitz, reviewing for the pop-culture website Vulture, called the show a "decadent true-crime with an acidic sense of humor" that "alternates satire, drama, kookiness, and shocking violence." USA Today complimented the quality of the casting, noting that "Sutherland is predictably solid, but Fraser is the surprise, in what's perhaps his big comeback vehicle." It was also described as "zippy and fast-paced," with a "heightened and stylish feeling." Brendan Fraser's performance as James Fletcher Chace has also received praise from critics; considering his long hiatus from film acting and retreat from celebrity, his role was welcomed as a successful comeback, with TV Guide humorously declaring it the start of a "Brenaissance".