Plummer worth it in ‘All the Money’
Late replacement for Kevin Spacey delivers a remarkable performance as J. Paul Getty
“All in the Money in the World” was in the news before it was in the theaters because of a reshoot to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer following the sexual allegations against Spacey this fall. His role was that of billionaire J. Paul Getty, and when I read that, I assumed that Getty couldn’t be that large a part. Pivotal, maybe. Colorful, for sure, but not something occupying much actual screen time. Well, it turns out that J. Paul Getty is all over “All the Money in the World.” He is the second or third lead and is in multiple scenes, which means that easily 30 percent of the film had to be completely reshot. This represents a remarkable and seamless technical achievement, as well as an impressive artistic achievement for director Ridley Scott and his cast. Plummer delivers brilliance in what had to be record time, and every person sharing a scene with Plummer — Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, in particular — comes in fresh and spontaneous, responding anew to another actor’s completely different energy.
The film tells the story of the notorious 1973 kidnapping of J. Paul Getty III, the 16-year-old grandson of the richest man in the world. The kidnapping was notorious for two reasons, one best discovered in the watching, and the other because the senior Getty, despite his wealth, was a tightwad who wouldn’t pay the ransom. He was so cheap he laundered his own shirts and had a pay phone installed in the house in case his guests wanted to make calls. So forget about forking over $17 million.
Someday, on some Blu-ray in the future, we might get to see how Spacey approached the role, but Plummer does something it’s hard to imagine anyone topping. He doesn’t play active malevolence, but a mental disorder. He plays someone with a narrow, pinched view of existence, but one that, in his estimation, has been emphatically confirmed by fabulous success. So he goes around with a smirky glow, convinced that everyone wants what he has and amused that no one is going to get it.
As such, he is not a villain. He’s just beyond the reach of other values. Human emotion touches him, but in muted form. If someone, such as his security man (Wahlberg), makes an appeal to some higher consideration, he assumes it’s a ploy, or he looks for the hidden money angle. He really thinks everyone is as selfish and mercenary as he is, but because everyone is at least a little selfish and mercenary, he keeps finding evidence that he’s right. Plummer conveys all this with very little, a look, a smile, a subtle emphasis.
This brings him into conflict with his former daughter-inlaw, Abigail Harris Getty, the kidnapped boy’s mother, played impeccably by Williams. The kidnappers direct their ransom demands to the mother, naturally assuming that, because she’s a Getty, she’s loaded. She tells them that she’s not, and they tell her to get it from the old man. Sure, why not? And how about some blood from a stone while she’s at it?
“All the Money in the World” is probably unique among kidnap sagas in that the primary conflict isn’t between the victim and the kidnappers, or the mother and the kidnappers, but between Abigail and her former father-in-law. Abigail is essentially powerless, but the script and Williams keep her active, making appeals to the implacable billionaire and negotiating with the kidnappers for less ransom and more time.
Williams adopts the particular speaking pattern of Abigail Getty, the forward placement, the slight sibilance and the hints of good breeding. This wasn’t a necessary choice, but it works well to fill in the character. The role demands that Williams remain at a pitch of emotion throughout and then top even that, as when she goes to identify her son’s body, and it turns out to be someone else, or she picks up the phone, and it’s her kidnapped son on the line.
Williams always plays the unexpected. She doesn’t feel the emotion and then express it. She feels and expresses it simultaneously, always while doing some other third thing. She knows what Al Pacino knew when he played that scene in “The Godfather” when Michael’s wife blows up in her car. When the situation is that urgent, there’s no split second for realization to register on a face. At that level of intense crisis, emotion and action are one.
“All the Money in the World” doesn’t transcend its genre, in the sense of being more than it is, a fascinating thriller. But it’s as realized a thriller as you are likely to find, not only in the precision of its performances, but in its evocative use of location (Rome, London), its period detail (especially Williams’ clothing) and the tension of the younger Getty’s months-long captivity.
It would be an unusual and somewhat harrowing experience to put oneself through on Christmas Day, but like all movies of this quality, it gives back more than it takes.