An anti-Muslim tweet and genital flashing: As 'Green Book' has become an Oscar favorite, controversies have continued to pile up
- "Green Book" has emerged as an Oscar frontrunner after multiple Golden Globes wins and notable nominations throughout this awards season.
- But controversy has surrounded the movie.
- One of the writers, Nick Vallelonga, deleted his Twitter account this week after a controversial 2015 reply to Donald Trump resurfaced.
- Director Peter Farrelly apologized this week for flashing his genitals in front of colleagues in 1998.
- Relatives of Don Shirley, who Mahershala Ali plays in the movie, have raised concerns that "Green Book" misrepresents the real-life musician.
Universal's "Green Book" has emerged as an Oscar frontrunner in recent weeks thanks to major wins at the Golden Globes on Sunday, and notable nominations throughout the awards season.
But as it's entered the spotlight, controversy has followed it.
"Green Book" tells the true story of Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), an Italian-American bouncer at clubs in New York City who takes a job driving African-American musician Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) during a tour through the Deep South in the 1960s. It's directed by Peter Farrelly, who's known for slapstick comedies like "Dumb and Dumber," and written by Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie, and Tony's son, Nick Vallelonga.
The movie won three Golden Globes, including best comedy or musical, best supporting actor (Ali), and best screenplay. It's racked up Producers Guild, Writers Guild, and Directors Guild of America Award nominations this month, positioning it as a formidable player in the Oscar race.
The recognition has come with backlash, though.
Nick Vallelonga deleted his Twitter account this week after a 2015 tweet resurfaced, in which Vallelonga replied to a claim by Donald Trump that "thousands of people" were cheering in Jersey City, New Jersey after the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001.
"100% correct. Muslims in Jersey City cheering when towers went down. I saw it, as you did, possibly on local CBS news," Vallelonga tweeted.
The claim was debunked by multiple outlets including The Washington Post, which wrote in 2015, "an extensive examination of news clips from that period turns up nothing," and "neither can we find any examples of Trump previously talking about this."
Farrelly also came under fire this week after The Cut resurfaced 1998 reports that Farrelly flashed his genitals in front of colleagues. Farrelly quickly apologized for his past behavior.
"I was an idiot," Farrelly told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. "I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I'm embarrassed and it makes me cringe now. I'm deeply sorry."
Additionally, the contents of the movie itself have sparked criticism from a number of Shirley's family members, who claim the movie misrepresents him. Both Vallelonga and Shirley died in 2013.
"They decided to make Don Shirley estranged from his black family, though that was not true," Shirley's great niece, Yvonne Shirley, told The Hollywood Reporter. "They decided to make him absurdly disconnected from black community and culture, though that was not true. They decided to depict him as having spent his formative years in Europe, though he spent them in the Deep South where he was born and raised. They decided to create a story of a white man's redemption and self-realization using an extraordinary black life and a history of black oppression in this country as their backdrop."
Farrelly and Vallelonga have pushed back against the Shirley family's concerns. In an October email provided to THR, Farrelly wrote to one of Shirley's relatives, "At no time in the film do we state that Dr. Shirley was never close to his family; we just show that during that two-month period in his life, they weren't particularly close, which makes sense."
Vallelonga told THR that he interviewed both his father and Shirley in the 1980s for research. He claimed that Shirley requested that the script only focus on his and Vallelonga's relationship, that he not interview anyone else, and that the movie not be released during his lifetime.
"Green Book" has not been a wild success at the box office, but has at least surpassed its production budget since debuting last month. It's grossed $37 million and was made for $23 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The biggest question will be whether the Oscars can give it a boost in the midst of multiple controversies.
This year's Oscar nominations are announced on January 22.