It didn’t really take all that long but Green Book is now generally considered one of the most undeserving movies to ever win Best Picture, serving as a safe choice that could give the Academy members yet another chance to pat themselves on the back instead of voting for something more daring like Roma, which many pegged to be the favorite. And this backlash has stuck with Viggo Mortensen ever since, calling out critics of the movie to this day.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Viggo Mortensen – who played real-life figure “Tony Lip” to his third Best Actor nomination – stood up for Green Book, which faced heavy criticism partly for the depiction of the relationship between Lip and Dr. Donald Shirley, played by Mahershala Ali (winning his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar). “It was frustrating to me, as part of the filmmaking team, to see that the studio was somewhat cowed by the disingenuous criticism of the movie, of it being not historically accurate, so forth, or unfair in some way—being cowed by that kind of rumor-mongering that spread like wildfire because of the way social media is these days, and which rival studios greatly enjoyed and propagated as much as they could. That’s what happened. I thought they should have been bolder about refuting it. They eventually did what we—Peter Farrelly, me, and others—wished they had done early on: put out the recordings that show that this is actually a true story and that this happened.”
But Mortensen wasn’t just defending Green Book here but rather also calling out much of modern film criticism, which he suggested could be part of the reason that that film – and so many others – don’t get proper reception. “More and more these days, what passes for critical thinking in terms of reviews is pretty poor. In terms of the reviewer having some understanding of film history, how movies are made—the level is really low. There are some good reviewers—some really interesting conversations are had from journalists in terms of their reactions to films—but it’s not great. As a director, certainly as a director-producer, I pay attention. It matters to me more, a lot more than as an actor because the fate of the movie, whether it’s going to be distributed well, whether it’s going to be seen in movie theaters—a lot hangs in the balance as to how it’s received critically.”
Clear Oscar bait or not, Green Book ended up taking home the top honor at the 91st Academy Awards after a string of gutsier Best Picture winners like The Shape of Water, Moonlight and Birdman. Its support – or perhaps what might be better described as the industry congratulating itself for voting for a race-themed film – shouldn’t really have been that much of a shock when it comes down to it. The biggest surprise might be that it falls in very limited company as being one of just five films to win Best Picture without a Best Director nomination. Another to pull off this feat? Driving Miss Daisy.
Do you think Green Book deserves the backlash it gets or does it have strong enough merits? Give us your take on the film below.