All the Money in the World Page #8

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CHACE:

Mille grazie, signorina.

We PULL BACK along the aisle -- to where Gail sits at a windowseat, eyeing Fletcher Chace warily from behind dark glasses.

INT. ROME FIUMICINO AIRPORT -- BOARDING GATE -- EVENING

The gate opens, and a flood of REPORTERS and PAPARAZZI are

waiting for us. FLASHBULBS click and whirr like locusts.

REPORTERS:

Signora, Signora! Is your son stillalive? Signora!

CHACE:

Out of the way, fellas.

REPORTER 1

When will you pay the ransom foryour son's life?

GAIL:

I don't have the money.

The reporters laugh.

39.

REPORTER 2

You divorced the son of the richest

man in the world, Signora!

CHACE (O.S.)

You don't have to answer questions.

GAIL:

No. I want to say something.

Gail's voice is tense with emotion, but she remains poised.

GAIL (CONT'D)

My son Paul must be very frightenedright now. I know I'm frightenedfor him. So to the people who tookhim: I don't care why you did this,

but as a mother I ask you to thinkof your own children, or of the childyou once were, and set my boy free.

A brief silence, then:

REPORTER 3

(to Chace)

Scusi. Why does the lady not cry?

GAIL:

Excuse me?

REPORTER 3

Your son is disappeared. A mother

should cry for her son.

GAIL:

You want me to cry, is that it?

CHACE:

All right. Let the lady through.

The crowd parts before us to reveal the smartly-dressedInvestigating Magistrate ANTONIO DEL ROVERE flanked by twouniformed officers of the Italian POLICIA DI STATO. The

flashbulbs pop and whirr, recording the moment:

DEL ROVERE:

Ms. Getty. I am Antonio Del Rovere

of the Policia di Stato.

INT. QUESTURA POLICIA DI STATO (POLICE HEADQUARTERS) -- NIGHT

Del Rovere leads Gail and Chace from a police sedan in theparking garage into the front lobby of a castle that hasbeen transformed into a police Questura.

40.

DEL ROVERE:

Your son is a very lucky boy, Signora.

GAIL:

Nothing about this feels lucky to

me.

DEL ROVERE:

Of course, it's a terrible thing.

But if he had to be taken, this isthe best place it could happen. No

police department in the world hassolved more kidnappings.

CHACE:

How did you earn that distinction?

Rovere leads them up the marble staircase.

DEL ROVERE:

A few years ago we had an outbreakof kidnapping. Wealthy people,

ordinary Italians, everyone. This

was how the communist Rosso Brigatefinanced their terrorist activities.

Everyone paid the ransom, no matterwhat we told them to do.

GAIL:

What about the families that refused

to pay?

DEL ROVERE:

Even the poorest family will give upeverything to have their childrenback. So I devised a solution. We

froze the bank accounts of the all

the families so they couldn't pay.

CHACE:

Is that legal?

DEL ROVERE:

If the police do it, it must be legal.

It took some time but they realizedthe money wouldn't come. Now it

seems they've decided to takeforeigners instead.

CHACE:

Freezing J Paul Getty's money is notgoing to be an option in this case.

DEL ROVERE:

I'm sorry, I've forgotten which partyyou said you were working for.

41.

CHACE:

I represent Mr. Getty's interests.

I'm his head of security.

DEL ROVERE:

And what are Mr. Getty's interests?

GAIL:

Business, sex, and the collecting ofart. In that order.

Del Rovere laughs, but Gail's not joking.

GAIL (CONT'D)

I hope you're about to inform us youhave some information about my son.

Has anyone stepped forward to claimresponsibility for his kidnapping?

DEL ROVERE:

Tutti, Signora. Everybody.

He opens a door -

INT. EVIDENCE ROOM -- DAY

-- to a darkened room filled with glowing LIGHT TABLES whereINSPECTORS examine ransom letters, dusting for fingerprints.

GAIL:

These letters are addressed to me.

You've been opening my mail -- ?

DEL ROVERE:

It may be your mail, but it's ourevidence. All these letters are

from people claiming to have kidnapped

your son. From all over the world.

Germany, California, faster than wecan investigate.

CHACE:

$17 million brings out a crowd.

GAIL:

You're telling me you have nothing.

DEL ROVERE:

No, Signora, we have too much. Too

many kidnappers, too many reporters.

A victim worth too much money.

CHACE:

Want some free advice? Put it in

the papers.

(MORE)

42.

CHACE (CONT'D)

When the kidnappers find out everylowlife in Rome is trying to poachtheir ransom they'll have to comeout into the open to claim it.

DEL ROVERE:

It's the communists, the Rosso

Brigate. To kidnap the child of therichest capitalist in the world -this

would be a dream for them.

They will take you too, Signora, ifthey can. So I am placing you underpolice protection.

GAIL:

I don't need anyone's protection.

I'm not a real Getty. I never was.

I'm an ordinary person.

DEL ROVERE:

You're not a person anymore. You're

a symbol. My officers will escortyou home. Buona sera.

EXT. POLICE CAR/ROME STREETS -- NIGHT

Gail and Chace ride in back as the police car blazes throughthe streets. Plastered along the walls are blowups of thecover of La Stampa with Paul Getty's photograph on it.

A MOTORBIKE pulls up alongside Gail's window. The rider

reaches into his bag and we see the glint of black metal -

CHACE:

Jesus, shake them off. Swerve!

And a FLASHBULB FIRES. The Paparazzo shoves his camera backinto his bag and speeds away. Gail never flinched.

CHACE (CONT'D)

Hey! Didn't you see that?

POLICE DRIVER:

It's a free country.

Gail looks over at the flustered Chace.

GAIL:

It's kind of you to make a fuss, Mr.

Chace, but you really needn't bother.

43.

INT. GAIL'S APARTMENT -- NIGHT

In the kitchen, two SURVEILLANCE OFFICERS of the Policia di

Stato are setting up a large reel-to-reel tape recorder onthe table and connecting it to the telephone.

GAIL:

Is there anywhere you can put thatso that we have a place to eat?

SURVEILLANCE OFFICER

Your child is kidnapped, Signora.

How can you think about eating?

This stings.

GAIL:

Do what you have to do.

In the living room, Chace is examining her belongings: theapartment is simple but stylish as Gail herself.

Gail's daughter Ariadne walks in in her pajamas, rubbingsleep from her eyes. Chace is awkward.

CHACE:

Hi there.

GAIL:

Back to bed, darling.

CHACE:

All these strange men in her house.

Gail tucks her daughter back into bed. Meanwhile, Chaceenters Little Paul's room. When Gail re-enters, she findsChace rifling through books on the bookshelf.

CHACE (CONT'D)

Did Paul do any drugs? Marijuana?

GAIL:

He was a teenage boy. He had teenageboy problems. He made teenage boymistakes.

CHACE:

I'm just trying to find it beforethose guys in the kitchen do.

GAIL:

They've already searched this room.

CHACE:

He'd gotten in trouble at school, amI right?

44.

GAIL:

A boy needs a father, and his wasstrung out in Marrakech with MickJagger. It was all I could do to

get him to come home at night.

He opens a copy of "Watership Down" and a tiny bag of hashishfalls out. He pockets it. He finds Paul's address book.

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