J. Paul Getty: The Real Story Behind The Man With All The Money In The World

Even The Captors Didn’t Understand Why Getty Wouldn’t Save His Grandson

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Settling for a lower ransom supposedly came out of one of the captor’s desperation for Paul III to be rescued, growing pitiful for the boy whose family wouldn’t save him. “He can’t even conceive the world of these wealthy Americans… It’s like, how can you have all this money, and yet the money is more important to you than your kid, and he finds himself sympathizing with the kid,” screenwriter David Scarpa told Vanity Fair. Scarpa wrote 2017’s All the Money in the World, a film based on the entire ordeal according to John Pearson’s 1995 book, Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty.

After everything was said and done, Paul III was ultimately the only one to come out of the situation tragically.