Hell to pay
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD Mark Wahlberg on the role that’s unlike anything he’s done before in Ridley Scott’s true-life thriller…
After crafting a full-scale interstellar blockbuster, you wouldn’t need permission to take a bit of a breather. Perhaps someone needs to have a word with workaholic director Ridley Scott (who turns 80 this month), as he has quietly knocked up an intriguing, inspired-by-a-true-story ’70s crime thriller since wrapping Alien: Covenant. Filmed over the summer in Italy, the UK and Jordan, All The Money In The World tells the story of the kidnapping of the teenage grandson of oil billionaire (and then richest man in the world) Jean Paul Getty.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Ridley’s, and reading this script and seeing the part – which is not something that people would expect from me – I just felt like it was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” explains Mark Wahlberg, who plays Getty’s right-hand-man and former CIA agent Fletcher Chase, who’s called into action to work with the missing Jean Paul III’s mother, Gail (Michelle Williams), when Getty the elder refuses to pay the ransom. “He was a former CIA guy,” says Wahlberg of Chase. “And then he was basically negotiating with various countries in the Middle East and handling the oil business for Getty. But, if something went wrong, he was the guy Getty would call.”
While Wahlberg’s hands were somewhat tied when it came to research – “He’s a former CIA guy, so it was difficult to find even pictures of him…” – he relished the opportunity to break from the taciturn tough guys he’s known for. “Everything about him [is different to characters I’ve played]. This guy is fluent in Arabic. He speaks
Italian. The way he walks, talks, dresses… He’s a unique individual.”
If Wahlberg’s somewhat unrecognisable in the role, it’s nothing compared to co-star Kevin Spacey, who plays the ageing Getty under pounds of prosthetics. “The first time that I saw him, in Italy, he was in the make-up, walking towards me,” says Wahlberg. “Most of the time I spent with him was with him in the make-up on set, in character. It’s funny because obviously he would sound different during the take doing his Getty voice. But when we were just talking… It was weird with his voice coming out of that face.”
With Wahlberg pointing to the complexities of Getty himself, you can expect a stylised thriller that leaves you with a lot to chew on. “It became probably my greatest cinematic experience,” reflects Wahlberg. “It felt like making one of those movies that I grew up watching with my dad.” MM
ETA | 5 JAnuAry / All ThE MonEy In ThE World opEns nExT yEAr.