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| Scene from Green Book |
Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.
Background Information
Green Book
Release Date: November 16, 2018
Director: Peter Farrelly
Written By: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
Running Time: 130 minutes
Oscar Wins: 3
-Best Picture
-Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali)
-Best Original Screenplay
Oscar Nominations: 2
-Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
-Best Editing
-Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali)
-Best Original Screenplay
Oscar Nominations: 2
-Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
-Best Editing
Other Best Picture Nominees
-Black Panther
-BlacKkKlansman
-Bohemian Rhapsody
-The Favourite
-Roma
-A Star is Born
-Vice
-BlacKkKlansman
-Bohemian Rhapsody
-The Favourite
-Roma
-A Star is Born
-Vice
And the winner is...
In 2018, The Academy Awards found themselves at a crossroads. Under the watchful eye of President John Bailey, there was a concern for the old and new guards clashing in a way that would overthrow recent Best Picture winners Moonlight and The Shape of Water: two cutting edge films that played with genre and showed the definition of an Oscar-winner changing before everyone's eyes. Then there was director Peter Farrelly's Green Book, which received acclaim and controversy for being a feel-good movie, but also controversial in how it depicted race, even leading The Los Angeles Times to call it "the worst Best Picture winner since Crash" and an appearance in the IMDb Top 250. Wherever it is on the quality spectrum, the conventional Oscar winner can't help but make the quaint story seem a lot worse than it is.
The story begins with Nick Vallelonga's love for his father Tony "Lip" Vallelonga. While he is given a supporting role of sorts in Green Book, his real-life featured work as an Italian actor, appearing on the TV series The Sopranos and various Martin Scorsese movies. Due to his brawny physique, Tony would go on to be a bodyguard for Don Shirley, a renowned musician, as he toured the American south. The book that Shirley used to find Vallelonga (as well as the name of the film) came from Victor Hugo Green's "The Negro Motorists Green Book" which gave a list of drivers who would safely drive black citizens around the south. Nick felt inspired by these stories that he would ask his father for more information before finally deciding to write a love letter to their relationship.
His script would eventually make it into the hands of Farrelly. The director had mostly done comedy, including blackmailing half of Hollywood with the abusive filmmaking technique of Razzie Winner Movie 43. He wanted to move into dramatic films and took on the project as a chance to expand himself. His first choice for Vallelonga was always Viggo Mortensen, though the actor was reluctant. Mortensen was fluent in Italian but found himself nervous to speak and act authentic enough for the part. When he eventually got the desire to take the part, he promised to put on 40-50 pounds to make the part more authentic. It wasn't easy at first. To prepare, he went to a six-hour dinner held by the Villelonga family and found himself unable to eat all of the food. It wasn't because he disliked it, but because he wasn't capable of eating everything they gave him. He would report going to the car and just lying there with his belt undone after to try and recover. This was his method acting, as to eat normally for even a day would cause a shift in how his pants sat. He later claimed that the most difficult part was taking the weight off.
Mortensen would have a strong hand in helping to shape the film. Similarly, Vallelonga sought to make the film as authentic as possible. Part of this meant casting a small portion of his family in supporting roles, including Nick as a mobster. In a coincidental note, Vallelonga would praise Linda Cardellini's performance as his mother, which he found too realistic to handle. It wasn't until the press cycle that they realized what Vallelonga had done. The film shot predominantly in Louisiana with exception to a few scenes in New York. In order to capture the different skin tones of the actors, the car was designed with different techniques to make the on-location shooting easier to work with, meaning that the front and rear seating were given lighting techniques that differed from each other. Kris Bowers, who was also the film's composer, would star as Mahershala Ali's double when playing the piano.
The film would premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It would go on to win the People's Choice Awards, helping to launch it into the Oscar race. It slowly rose from dark horse to front runner over this time, eventually succumbing in a Golden Globe nomination that all but sealed the deal. Its box office was a bit rockier, as its initial limited release was considered everywhere from a decent start to a disaster. Even the choice to expand it to 1,000+ theaters the following week was met with some scrutiny. However, those who suggested that the film needed awards contention to survive got their wish. The film continued to do well and expanded following the Oscar nominations, receiving a 120% bump from the previous week - the highest since The King's Speech. Green Book would also perform surprisingly well in China, becoming the second-highest-grossing Best Picture winner in history behind Titanic. With a box office of $323 million, it was among the higher grossing Best Picture nominees of the year and worked as a general crowd-pleaser.
However, it was met with nonstop controversy since the Golden Globe wins that assured a Best Picture nomination and placed Ali as a Best Supporting Actor front-runner. Many considered Farrelly's handling of the material to be regressive, which showed in the Golden Globes speech lacking many black artists on stage during the final acceptance speech (as a result, producer Octavia Spencer would have more prominence on the Oscar stage). This wasn't improved by the fact that Mortensen would say a racial epithet in an interview before apologizing because he meant it to suggest language that wasn't used anymore. Similarly, old Nick Vallelonga posts on Twitter emerged, including a comment about how he saw Muslims celebrating during 9/11. Finally, Farrelly's problematic past of flashing his privates and being a control freak would be brought up constantly.
However, the biggest controversy came in how accurately the film actually depicted the life of Tony Vallelonga and Shirley. While the film had no shortage of insight from the Vallelonga family, the other side came forth and complained. Don's brother Maurice would suggest that the Green Book depiction was inaccurate as they were more business acquaintances. There was also concern that none of the Shirley family had been consulted for the film. Ali would personally come forward and apologize, saying that he did the best with what he was given and that he wasn't aware of what the Shirley family had any surviving members. To make matters more confusing, actual interviews (of which weren't consulted for the film) in "Lost Bohemia" would have the actual Don Shirley admitting that he formed a personal relationship with Tony Vallelonga that went beyond an employee/employer archetype. Those who complained about accuracy would be challenged. In The Hollywood Reporter, former Los Angeles Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would suggest that the inaccuracies don't matter in favor of the bigger story (another Laker would come forth as a fan of Green Book. In 2019, Magic Johnson listed it among his 60 favorite movies to honor his 60th birthday).
On the day of Oscar nominations, Green Book joined the equally controversial Bohemian Rhapsody in having the least amount of nominations for the Best Picture nominee. While it benefited from a post-nomination bump at the theaters, it would only lead to more scrutiny in the month that followed. Ironically, both films would end up dominating the Oscar wins (Bohemian Rhapsody would earn four wins, becoming the big winner of the night). The film would become the fifth to win without a Best Director nomination following Wings, Grand Hotel, Driving Miss Daisy, and Argo. Ali would become the first black actor to win twice in Best Supporting Actor, second to win multiple acting awards behind Denzel Washington. He also was the first Muslim (male or female) to win twice in said category. It was also the first PG-13 film to win since The Artist. It received comparisons to Driving Miss Daisy, which also featured a white man driving a white person around.
It didn't irk anyone as much as it did Spike Lee, who won Best Adapted Screenplay that night fir BlacKkKlansman. Many considered his film to be the more racially charged version of race relations that should've won. There were even suggestions that BlacKkKlansman losing to Green Book was similar to Do the Right Thing losing to Driving Miss Daisy, leading Lee to joke that there was always trouble when a black man got behind the wheel. He was suggested to have protested by wanting to leave the theater following the Best Picture announcement. When he wasn't allowed to leave the hall, he faced away from the stage in protest. He would spend the rest of the night giving speeches that badmouthed the film, at one point joking with a British outlet that "It wasn't my cup of tea." In some respects, Lee's behavior managed to outshine the actual ceremony and dominated the news the following morning.
The first to give an immediate reaction was Justin Chang, who suggested that Green Book was the worst Best Picture winner since Crash. Considering that many had considered that Oscar season a trainwreck for a variety of reasons (including the short-lived Best Popular Film category), Green Book was a symbolic winner of trying to appeal to a demographic out of touch. The reputation hasn't changed much in the few months since its release with many fearing that the following season would have the familiar controversial run of events and a lackluster winner that didn't reflect the diverse achievements of modern filmmaking. It's too early to chime in on that, though Green Book feels doomed to be one of the more maligned winners of the decade and the 21st century so far. If nothing else, Vallelonga's next movie, That's Amore has been ridiculed for being the most Italian-stereotype plot possibly in existence.
Green Book was a movie that was made with love for a bygone era, even though it also brought up a fraught discussion of race and representation. It was an issue that felt worth discussing and a nice chance to ask what the Best Picture winner was and should be. Was it wrong for being a simple tale, or should The Academy have awarded a more challenging movie? Everyone is likely to have an opinion on this winner and it will say more about your age and perception of film than its actual quality. It's hard to tell if it's as bad as many make it out to be, but whatever the case may be, it did everything that the Best Picture winner should do: it got everyone to talk about what it means to be a film.
The story begins with Nick Vallelonga's love for his father Tony "Lip" Vallelonga. While he is given a supporting role of sorts in Green Book, his real-life featured work as an Italian actor, appearing on the TV series The Sopranos and various Martin Scorsese movies. Due to his brawny physique, Tony would go on to be a bodyguard for Don Shirley, a renowned musician, as he toured the American south. The book that Shirley used to find Vallelonga (as well as the name of the film) came from Victor Hugo Green's "The Negro Motorists Green Book" which gave a list of drivers who would safely drive black citizens around the south. Nick felt inspired by these stories that he would ask his father for more information before finally deciding to write a love letter to their relationship.
His script would eventually make it into the hands of Farrelly. The director had mostly done comedy, including blackmailing half of Hollywood with the abusive filmmaking technique of Razzie Winner Movie 43. He wanted to move into dramatic films and took on the project as a chance to expand himself. His first choice for Vallelonga was always Viggo Mortensen, though the actor was reluctant. Mortensen was fluent in Italian but found himself nervous to speak and act authentic enough for the part. When he eventually got the desire to take the part, he promised to put on 40-50 pounds to make the part more authentic. It wasn't easy at first. To prepare, he went to a six-hour dinner held by the Villelonga family and found himself unable to eat all of the food. It wasn't because he disliked it, but because he wasn't capable of eating everything they gave him. He would report going to the car and just lying there with his belt undone after to try and recover. This was his method acting, as to eat normally for even a day would cause a shift in how his pants sat. He later claimed that the most difficult part was taking the weight off.
Mortensen would have a strong hand in helping to shape the film. Similarly, Vallelonga sought to make the film as authentic as possible. Part of this meant casting a small portion of his family in supporting roles, including Nick as a mobster. In a coincidental note, Vallelonga would praise Linda Cardellini's performance as his mother, which he found too realistic to handle. It wasn't until the press cycle that they realized what Vallelonga had done. The film shot predominantly in Louisiana with exception to a few scenes in New York. In order to capture the different skin tones of the actors, the car was designed with different techniques to make the on-location shooting easier to work with, meaning that the front and rear seating were given lighting techniques that differed from each other. Kris Bowers, who was also the film's composer, would star as Mahershala Ali's double when playing the piano.
The film would premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It would go on to win the People's Choice Awards, helping to launch it into the Oscar race. It slowly rose from dark horse to front runner over this time, eventually succumbing in a Golden Globe nomination that all but sealed the deal. Its box office was a bit rockier, as its initial limited release was considered everywhere from a decent start to a disaster. Even the choice to expand it to 1,000+ theaters the following week was met with some scrutiny. However, those who suggested that the film needed awards contention to survive got their wish. The film continued to do well and expanded following the Oscar nominations, receiving a 120% bump from the previous week - the highest since The King's Speech. Green Book would also perform surprisingly well in China, becoming the second-highest-grossing Best Picture winner in history behind Titanic. With a box office of $323 million, it was among the higher grossing Best Picture nominees of the year and worked as a general crowd-pleaser.
However, it was met with nonstop controversy since the Golden Globe wins that assured a Best Picture nomination and placed Ali as a Best Supporting Actor front-runner. Many considered Farrelly's handling of the material to be regressive, which showed in the Golden Globes speech lacking many black artists on stage during the final acceptance speech (as a result, producer Octavia Spencer would have more prominence on the Oscar stage). This wasn't improved by the fact that Mortensen would say a racial epithet in an interview before apologizing because he meant it to suggest language that wasn't used anymore. Similarly, old Nick Vallelonga posts on Twitter emerged, including a comment about how he saw Muslims celebrating during 9/11. Finally, Farrelly's problematic past of flashing his privates and being a control freak would be brought up constantly.
However, the biggest controversy came in how accurately the film actually depicted the life of Tony Vallelonga and Shirley. While the film had no shortage of insight from the Vallelonga family, the other side came forth and complained. Don's brother Maurice would suggest that the Green Book depiction was inaccurate as they were more business acquaintances. There was also concern that none of the Shirley family had been consulted for the film. Ali would personally come forward and apologize, saying that he did the best with what he was given and that he wasn't aware of what the Shirley family had any surviving members. To make matters more confusing, actual interviews (of which weren't consulted for the film) in "Lost Bohemia" would have the actual Don Shirley admitting that he formed a personal relationship with Tony Vallelonga that went beyond an employee/employer archetype. Those who complained about accuracy would be challenged. In The Hollywood Reporter, former Los Angeles Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would suggest that the inaccuracies don't matter in favor of the bigger story (another Laker would come forth as a fan of Green Book. In 2019, Magic Johnson listed it among his 60 favorite movies to honor his 60th birthday).
On the day of Oscar nominations, Green Book joined the equally controversial Bohemian Rhapsody in having the least amount of nominations for the Best Picture nominee. While it benefited from a post-nomination bump at the theaters, it would only lead to more scrutiny in the month that followed. Ironically, both films would end up dominating the Oscar wins (Bohemian Rhapsody would earn four wins, becoming the big winner of the night). The film would become the fifth to win without a Best Director nomination following Wings, Grand Hotel, Driving Miss Daisy, and Argo. Ali would become the first black actor to win twice in Best Supporting Actor, second to win multiple acting awards behind Denzel Washington. He also was the first Muslim (male or female) to win twice in said category. It was also the first PG-13 film to win since The Artist. It received comparisons to Driving Miss Daisy, which also featured a white man driving a white person around.
It didn't irk anyone as much as it did Spike Lee, who won Best Adapted Screenplay that night fir BlacKkKlansman. Many considered his film to be the more racially charged version of race relations that should've won. There were even suggestions that BlacKkKlansman losing to Green Book was similar to Do the Right Thing losing to Driving Miss Daisy, leading Lee to joke that there was always trouble when a black man got behind the wheel. He was suggested to have protested by wanting to leave the theater following the Best Picture announcement. When he wasn't allowed to leave the hall, he faced away from the stage in protest. He would spend the rest of the night giving speeches that badmouthed the film, at one point joking with a British outlet that "It wasn't my cup of tea." In some respects, Lee's behavior managed to outshine the actual ceremony and dominated the news the following morning.
The first to give an immediate reaction was Justin Chang, who suggested that Green Book was the worst Best Picture winner since Crash. Considering that many had considered that Oscar season a trainwreck for a variety of reasons (including the short-lived Best Popular Film category), Green Book was a symbolic winner of trying to appeal to a demographic out of touch. The reputation hasn't changed much in the few months since its release with many fearing that the following season would have the familiar controversial run of events and a lackluster winner that didn't reflect the diverse achievements of modern filmmaking. It's too early to chime in on that, though Green Book feels doomed to be one of the more maligned winners of the decade and the 21st century so far. If nothing else, Vallelonga's next movie, That's Amore has been ridiculed for being the most Italian-stereotype plot possibly in existence.
Green Book was a movie that was made with love for a bygone era, even though it also brought up a fraught discussion of race and representation. It was an issue that felt worth discussing and a nice chance to ask what the Best Picture winner was and should be. Was it wrong for being a simple tale, or should The Academy have awarded a more challenging movie? Everyone is likely to have an opinion on this winner and it will say more about your age and perception of film than its actual quality. It's hard to tell if it's as bad as many make it out to be, but whatever the case may be, it did everything that the Best Picture winner should do: it got everyone to talk about what it means to be a film.
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