Oscar winning director Danny Boyle executive produces and is set to direct Trust, a dramatic series based on the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. FX has given a 10 episode order to the series from Boyle, writer/executive producer Simon Beaufoy, and executive producer Christian Colson. Boyle, Beaufoy, and Colson previously worked together on the critically acclaimed, award-winning movies Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours.
“Simon, Danny and Christian have done a magnificent job of telling the story of the Getty family empire and its tumultuous history with Trust,” said Eric Schrier, President of Original Programming for FX Networks and FX Productions. “Simon’s script wonderfully dramatizes the notorious and bizarre kidnapping of J. Paul Getty’s grandson. It’s the perfect way to open this limited series, allowing us to see how three generations, including one of the world’s richest men, clash when family, fortune and reputation are in jeopardy.”
The Trust Plot: The first installment takes place in 1973, when the young Getty is kidnapped in Rome and his mafia captors are banking on a multi-million dollar ransom. After all, what rich family wouldn’t pay for the return of a loved one? Trust charts the young man’s nightmare ordeal at the hands of kidnappers who cannot understand why nobody seems to want their captive back. The Italian police think it’s a prank and decline to investigate. Paul’s father is lost in a heroin daze in London and refuses to answer the phone. Paul’s grandfather – possibly the richest man in the world – is marooned in a Tudor mansion in the English countryside surrounded by five mistresses and a pet lion. He’s busy. Only Paul’s mother is left to negotiate with increasingly desperate kidnappers. Problem is, she’s broke.
