All the Money in the World Page #2

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6.

PAUL (V.O.) (CONT'D)

(a beat)

But we were, once.

CUT TO:

ABIGAIL HARRIS GETTY

lies sleeping in a beauty mask as her three children, PAUL(9), MARK (4), and ARIADNE (2) bounce on the bed, clamoringfor breakfast. Her husband lies beside her. Gail GROANS:

GAIL:

Too early. The sun's not even up.

Back to bed, you little monsters.

Little Paul peels back one eye of Gail's mask and lets thesunlight in. She recoils.

GAIL (CONT'D)

You made your point. But no pancakes.

INT. APARTMENT KITCHEN -- MORNING

QUICK CUTS:
Gail fixes pancakes for the children and a cupof strong black coffee for herself, cleans up emptywineglasses and ashtrays from the party the night before,

downs two aspirin, puts a samba LP on the Hi-Fi, washes up,

dresses the children, pulls on capris, teases her hair, anddoes a quick little bossa-nova with the children.

GAIL:

Now, you'll have to amuse yourselvesquietly. I have work to do this

morning and I am not to be disturbed.

INT. LIVING ROOM -- DAY

Gail works with pastels at an easel, copying from a posedphoto of a model in a cocktail dress (the music PLAYS OVERfrom the previous scene, and throughout this whole sequence).

It's catalog work, but Gail's got a gift for line and gesture:

she has style. Her kids draw on the floor alongside her,

copying everything she does. Little Paul especially.

INT. KITCHEN -- DAY

Gail is on the phone, a utility bill in her hand.

GAIL:

Look in your file and you'll findthat we've been very good customersof Southern California Edison. We're

good people.

7.

In the sunlight we can see the words PAST DUE written there.

GAIL (CONT'D)

And I have a little boy who'sconcerned that if the lights aren'ton for Christmas Santa might notfind his way here.

Everything about Gail -- her Seven Sisters accent, herfinishing school posture -- reeks of the former debutante.

GAIL (CONT'D)

If we could make the minimum paymentwe wouldn't need an extension. We

do want to pay something, though.

We notice who the bill is addressed to: JOHN PAUL GETTY, JR.

PHONE REP (O.S.)

Tell me, Mrs Getty. What does yourhusband do?

GAIL:

He's a poet. A good one.

PHONE REP (O.S.)

Any relation to the oil man Getty?

She considers her answer carefully.

GAIL:

Distant.

PHONE REP (O.S.)

(laughs)

Must be, right?

EXT. BEVERLY HILLS APARTMENT DUPLEX -- DAY

Gail piles all three children into a Ford Fairlane. She

holds the electric bill in her hand, along with her drawings.

INT. SPIEGEL CATALOG PUBLICATIONS -- ART DEPARTMENT -- DAY

Gail hands over her drawings. The girl at the desk pays $25apiece, in cash. Gail wouldn't dream of counting the money.

INT. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON -- DAY

Gail counts the money. She stuffs it in the tray at thepayment window. She thumbs through what's left.

EXT. RODEO DRIVE, BEVERLY HILLS -- DAY

Gail walks through Beverly Hills with her three children intow. She passes a store window and stops. It's Givenchy.

8.

She gazes longingly at the window display of a woman in ansapphire evening gown... and then we RACK FOCUS to the motherwith three kids reflected in the glass.

ARIADNE (O.S.)

Are we going home now?

GAIL:

One last stop, darling.

INT. WILSHIRE CORRIDOR OFFICE BUILDING -- DAY

Gail approaches the building's registry, with her childrenin tow. She steps closer. She takes off her sunglasses.

There, encased beneath glass, are the white letters pressedinto black felt: GETTY OIL CORPORATION -- 28TH FLOOR.

CONCIERGE (O.S.)

Excuse me, miss. May I help you?

EXT. WILSHIRE CORRIDOR OFFICE BUILDING -- DAY

Gail and her children stand out on the sidewalk, squintingup at the 20-story glass tower that looms above them.

PAUL:

Must be eighty stories at least.

How many stories is it, Mom?

GAIL:

I don't know, darling. An awful lot

of stories.

PAUL:

What are we looking for, Mom?

Gail puts her sunglasses back on.

GAIL:

Your grandfather.

INT. APARTMENT -- LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

JOHN PAUL JR:

I've never even met the man.

JOHN PAUL GETTY II (known in the family as "Big Paul") isyoung, bearded and handsome, his feet propped up on the wantads on the coffee table before him.

JOHN PAUL JR (CONT'D)

You know he refused to pay my mothera nickel of child support.

9.

Big Paul climbs out of his chair and digs around inside thedesk drawers. The apartment is warm, bohemian, filled withpaintings and books and music on the record player.

JOHN PAUL JR (CONT'D)

When I was a boy, I would send myfather letters. "Dear Daddy, how Iwish I could meet you. I'll be

waiting for you at the baseballdiamond," that sort of thing.

(a beat)

You know what he sent back?

He hands Gail a letter. It's in little-boy handwriting, onlined paper -- but marked up with red ink.

JOHN PAUL JR (CONT'D)

He mailed it back with the spellingcorrected. Nothing else.

GAIL:

He is your father, that's got tocount for something, Paul, the rentis due and Christmas is coming.

JOHN PAUL JR:

What would you have me do, Gail?

Accost him on the street?

GAIL:

We write him a letter and ask for a

job. Any job. And this time, we'llget the spelling right.

Gail goes to his chair, sits on his lap, and kisses him. He

looks up at her:
she's not an easy woman to say no to.

JOHN PAUL JR:

You were never meant to be poor,

Gail. I know that.

GAIL:

We're not poor. We're broke. There's

a difference.

JOHN PAUL JR:

I don't want to be an oil man.

GAIL:

I don't want you to either. I love

you the way you are. All we need is

enough to get by, but we're notgetting by.

JOHN PAUL JR:

I'm sorry, Gail.

10.

GAIL:

I'm tired of struggling. I'm readyfor a different kind of life.

Big Paul gets up, picks up the bottle of Chianti from thecoffee table, and goes to the bedroom. We HOLD on Gail.

INT. APARTMENT -- LIVING ROOM -- NIGHT

Gail sets her husband's Smith-Corona down on the carpet.

She inserts a clean page into the carriage.

GAIL (V.O.)

Dear Dad -- Father -- For years Istruggled to understand why you keptyour distance. Now I know you weregiving me a chance to prove myself,

on my own, free from the shadow ofyour achievements -- no, great -

(backspace, retypes)

-- immense achievements. I understand

now what a sacrifice that must have

been for you.

She kneels before the typewriter, a pretty witch conjuringspirits.

GAIL (V.O.) (CONT'D)

Now that I am a man, I have nothingleft to prove, except to you. Let

me prove myself to you, Father.

(a beat)

As always, your loving -- no, yourloyal son: John Paul Getty Two.

She RIPS the page from the carriage and we

CUT TO:

INT. APARTMENT -- LIVING ROOM -- EVENING

MUSIC. Big Paul reaches into the fridge and pops the top ona can of Schlitz. Gail is making dinner on the stove. BigPaul slips his hands beneath her sweater to warm them.

GAIL:

God, your hands are cold! Stop, thekids are -- I'm serious, you -

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