'Green Book,' Co-Written, Directed, and Produced by Alumnus Peter Farrelly '86 Wins Three Oscars

By
Zoe Contro Kearl
February 25, 2019

Last night at the 91st Academy Awards, the film Green Book, directed, produced, and co-written by writing alumnus Peter Farrelly ‘86, took home the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor.

Each January, the entertainment community and film fans around the world turn their attention to the Academy Awards. Interest and anticipation builds to a fevered pitch leading up to the Oscar telecast, when hundreds of millions of movie lovers tune in to watch the glamorous ceremony and learn who will receive the highest honors in filmmaking. This year’s Nominations Announcement took place on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, and three alumni films were nominated. The 91st Oscars aired live on ABC last night, Sunday, February 24, 2019.

Green Book had been tipped for awards-season success since it debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, winning the People's Choice Award. The movie is a comedy-drama film about a tour of the Deep South in the 1960s by African-American classical pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen), a white Italian-American bouncer who served as Shirley's driver and security. Directed by Farrelly, the screenplay was written by Vallelonga's son Nick Vallelonga, with Farrelly and Brian Hayes Currie. The film gets its title from The Negro Motorist Green Book, a mid-20th century guidebook for African-American roadtrippers, written by Victor Hugo Green. 

Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and novelist. Along with his brother Bobby, the Farrelly brothers are most known for directing and producing quirky comedy and romantic comedy films with great box office success, including There’s Something About MaryDumb and DumberMe Myself & Irene, and Shallow Hal.

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