Green Book

Green Book is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama directed by Peter Farrelly and written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, and Farrelly. It stars Viggo Mortensen as Tony Vallelonga, an Italian-American bouncer from the Bronx, and Mahershala Ali as pianist Don Shirley. The story follows their 1962 journey through the Midwest and Deep South while Shirley undertakes a concert tour. Tony is hired as Shirley’s driver and bodyguard, despite his initial racial prejudice and unfamiliarity with Shirley’s cultivated world. The title refers to The Negro Motorist Green Book, a real guide that listed businesses and lodging for Black travelers during segregation. Published from 1936 to 1966, Victor Hugo Green’s guide is not merely decorative in the film: it underscores the practical dangers Shirley faces under Jim Crow segregation. Shirley performs at prestigious venues, yet is repeatedly denied equal treatment outside them. In one key episode, he is barred from dining in the whites-only restaurant at a mansion where he has been invited to play. Tony’s work gradually becomes more than transportation; he challenges insults, negotiates threats, and begins to recognize the indignities his employer endures. The narrative contrasts Tony’s large, boisterous family life with Shirley’s relative isolation in a New York apartment. The film frames its road story through the changing relationship between the two men. Tony initially calls Shirley “Doc,” while Shirley corrects Tony’s speech and urges him to write more thoughtful letters to his wife, Dolores. These scenes draw on letters Tony sent during the tour, which were preserved by the Vallelonga family. Nick Vallelonga, Tony’s son, co-wrote the screenplay and also appears briefly as August Russo. The screenplay presents Shirley as a classically trained musician who also performs popular music; Ali plays him as exacting, reserved, and increasingly frustrated by the constraints placed on him as a Black artist. Green Book premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018 and won the festival’s People’s Choice Award. It later received five Academy Award nominations and won three: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Ali, and Best Original Screenplay for Vallelonga, Currie, and Farrelly. Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor. The production also generated substantial debate about its depiction of Shirley and about authorship of his story. Members of Shirley’s family said they were not consulted, while the filmmakers said the script was based on interviews with Tony Vallelonga. The film remains successful; its acclaim is inseparable from objections.