‘Green Book’ Original Screenplay Win Puts Campaign Controversy In Rear-View
Green Book beat out three other Best Picture contenders and the well-regarded First Reformed to claim the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly took the stage, about an hour after the film’s Mahershala Ali won for Best Supporting Actor and their collective sigh of relief could be felt during their uneventful acceptance speech. Despite broad support and a shelf full of guild and critics’ groups prizes, the screenplay triumph enabled the film to put some minor controversies behind it. Among the knocks were Farrelly’s self-confessedly over-the-line bawdiness on past film sets and a tweet by Vallelonga agreeing with a widely debunked theory spread by Donald Trump about September 11.
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The three writers’ 90-second acceptance speech was smooth and low-key. Farrelly, previously known for comedies like Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary, took out a shopping-receipt-sized note and donned his glasses, seeming to tempt the orchestra to play him offstage. “They say if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together,” he said. “I got a lot of people to thank, starting with the entire state of Rhode Island.”
He went on to thank Ali, Viggo Mortensen and Linda Cardellini — “without you, we have nothing,” he said — before ripping through two dozen more names, including Shinola watches. “They’re saving Detroit, it’s unbelievable,” he noted.
Currie also began by praising the lead actors. With them speaking the screenplay’s lines, he said, “You pinch yourself. We consider ourselves the luckiest writers on the face of the earth. I want to thank our entire cast and crew, my whole family and all my friends who put up with my career, especially George and Eileen Currie, the best parents a guy could ever have.”
Vallelonga called winning “an amazing honor” and thanked the other nominees, the writers of The Favourite, First Reformed, Roma and Vice. “This is an amazing room of filmmakers,” he said. “Embrace ourselves and love each other. My mother and father – Dad, we did it.”
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