The Mummy franchise actor Brendan Fraser will join two Hollywood heavy-hitters for the upcoming FX drama Trust, based on the real-world story of the kidnapping of Getty oil fortune heir John Paul Getty III.
The cast of the series, which counts Academy Award winner Danny Boyle as one of its producers, already includes Golden Globe Award winner actor Donald Sutherland and two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, with Sutherland playing oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty Sr. and Swank playing the kidnapped teenager’s mother, Abigail Getty. Fraser will play Getty’s eccentric private investigator and fixer, James Fletcher Chace.
Production is expected to begin on the 10-episode series this month, June 2017, with the network planning for a premiere in early 2018. Clique actor Harris Dickinson will play the kidnapped heir to the Getty fortune.
The kidnapping of Getty III occurred in 1973 in the Piazza Farnese in Rome, and became the subject of global headlines due to the various personalities involved in the incident. The kidnappers’ original demands of $17 million were scoffed at by the notoriously frugal Getty Sr., and many of the initial recipients of the kidnappers’ message refused to believe it was legitimate for quite a while. The standoff went on for several months, and the kidnappers became increasingly desperate over time as no one seemed interested in meeting their demands. Getty III was eventually released months later, after his grandfather agreed to pay only a fraction of the initial ransom demand.
Trust is executive produced by Boyle and fellow Slumdog Millionaire Academy Award winners Simon Beaufoy and Christian Colson, with the first episode directed by Boyle and penned by Beaufoy.
Fraser, who famously starred in The Mummy series of action-adventure films, most recently appeared in the Showtime series The Affair.
Trust is expected to premiere on FX in January 2018, with several additional cast members likely to be announced in the near future.
