Donald Sutherland as J. Paul Getty

Probably because he was competitive with his own father.

Yes. He said, “I made more money in a year than my father did in a lifetime.” But he very much loved his grandson. W.H. Auden said that he could tell the difference between a close friend and a person he loved because the person he loved could always make him laugh. Very few people other than Getty's grandson made him laugh.

Are you intrigued by the ultra-rich? 

I don’t envy them. I’d love to have some money so that I could ensure that my children will have something when I’m gone. I don’t have that. I was never an actor who was paid huge sums of money. 

You used to live in Santa Monica, not far from the Getty Museum and his former Malibu mansion.

In Santa Monica, I kept dreaming I was on a stretcher in Cedars-Sinai Hospital, dying and thinking my life is an entire failure. I said, “We gotta get out of here." Now we live in Quebec and a place two miles away from the University of Miami Hospital. It’s a beautiful hospital.

Do you have any indulgences? You once owned a red Ferrari 275 GTB. 

I bought it in 1969 for $1,500. But when my then-wife left me, I traded it in because there were only two seats, and I had twins (Kiefer and daughter Rachel, now 51). I made an even deal on a $4,000 VW camper, so I made a profit of $2,500. Then in 1986, I turned on the  TV and I heard my name — someone in Texas was auctioning off my Ferrari. It sold for $1.25 million! It’s worth about $7 million now.

So, what would you tell your 20-something self?

You mean is there anything I would change? No. [Famed director] John Boorman implored me to do Deliverance, and I kept saying no. I thought I shouldn’t make a violent film. It was stupid to turn down John — he is brilliant, and I love him. I just should’ve done it. But if I had done it, I would not have done Alien Thunder, where I met my wife [Francine Racette]. And I’ve been with her for 46 years.