Stars on Screen
Family ties: How far would your family go for you? For Paul Getty, the answer turns out to be “not very far at all.” At least, that’s the spin that FX has put on one of the most famous kidnappings of the 20th century in “Trust,” which premieres Sunday, March 25.
Harris Dickinson (“Beach Rats,”
2017) stars as J. Paul Getty III in the new series, the heir to the Getty oil fortune who’s kidnapped in 1973 by the Italian mafia while in Rome. Soon, his family receives a ransom demand, asking for several million dollars to secure the young man’s return. What wealthy family wouldn’t pay?
Well, the Getty family is no ordinary clan. Donald Sutherland (“The Hunger Games,” 2012) plays the young man’s eccentric yet incredibly wealthy grandfather, J. Paul Getty Sr. When the calls start to come in demanding the ransom, he’s secluded in the English countryside with his mistresses and pet lion, and far too busy to deal with such a banal problem. The boy’s father, J. Paul Getty Jr. (Michael Esper, “A Beautiful Mind,”
2001), is in London and can’t be reached by phone.
Ultimately, it falls to the young man’s mother (Hillary Swank, “Logan Lucky,” 2017) to deal with the kidnappers, but without easy access to the family fortune, she can’t come up with the kind of cash that they want.
If this all sounds a bit familiar, it’s probably because this same kidnapping was made into a major motion picture just last year. “All the Money in the World” (2017) also dramatized the Getty kidnapping, with Mark Wahlberg (“Daddy’s Home 2,”
2017), Michelle Williams (“Manchester By the Sea,” 2016) and Charlie Plummer (“Lean on Pete,” 2017) all starring. Christopher Plummer (“A Beautiful Mind,” 2001) was famously brought on after filming was completed for a series of reshoots after Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) was dropped in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at him.
“Trust,” though, is its own beast, with its own interpretation of the events that happened way back in 1973. Catch the premiere on Sunday, March 25, on FX.
Splitting up: Divorce is no laughing matter, but if it’s done right, a comedy can find the humor in any situation. Enter “Splitting Up Together,” a new sitcom that tackles the touchy subject with warmth, heart and a whole lot of laughs.
Premiering Tuesday, March 27, on ABC, “Splitting Up Together” stars Jenna Fischer (“The Office”) and Oliver Hudson (“Scream Queens”) as newly divorced couple Lena and Martin. Although the spark between them may be gone, they’ve got three kids and a less-than-stellar real estate market to deal with, so they decide to keep their house and trade off parenting duties.
With one parent living in the house with the kids and the other in the detached garage — and switching spots once a week — the arrangement seems to be a perfect one. Of course, that starts to change once Martin is forced into taking on more responsibility for the children, while Lena starts dipping her toe in the dating pool again.
Adding to the complications of their already unconventional divorce are Camille
(Lindsay Price, “NCIS) and Arthur (Bobby Lee, “Pineapple Express,” 2008), their married friends with their own marital issues, and Lena’s sister Maya (Diane Farr, “Numb3rs’), a more free-spirited woman with poor taste in men. “Splitting Up Together” is based on a successful Danish series that showed that, handled with care, divorce can be just as funny as any other important life event. The new series premieres Tuesday, March 27, on ABC.