Oscars flashback: A look back at how Peter Farrelly’s ‘Green Book’ won Best Picture

New on Amazon Prime Video is the latest from writer/director Peter Farrelly, “Ricky Stanicky.” Five years ago Farrelly delivered his first solo directorial outing with “Green Book,” inspired by the true story of a 1962 tour of the Deep South by Black pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and his Italian-American driver Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen). It managed to overcome controversies to win three Oscars for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Ali), and Best Original Screenplay. How did that happen? Here are five reasons why.

1. The presumed frontrunner had too many strikes against it

Alfonso Cuarón‘s “Roma” was considered the one to beat for Best Picture all season long. It did very well with year-end critics awards and major precursors. But it had a number of hurdles to overcome. It was a foreign-language film streaming on Netflix. At the time, no streaming movie and no movie in a language besides English had ever managed to win Best Picture.

There might’ve been some concern from academy members who didn’t want to see the moviegoing experience relegated to just watching films at home. And “Roma” notably missed out on recognition from one very important precursor, the Screen Actors Guild Awards. We did see “The Shape of Water” overcome the hurdle of not being nominated for best ensemble cast just the year before, but it at least had individual acting noms for Sally Hawkins and Richard Jenkins. However, “Roma” was completely ignored by the guild, even though that’s one awards group that has shown a lot of love to Netflix over the years.

As for the Oscar nominations, “Roma” got into pretty much every single category it could have asked for (including acting noms for Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira) except for one: Best Film Editing. At the time “Birdman” was the only film in almost 40 years to overcome that snub to still win Best Picture. You had to go all the way back to 1980 when “Ordinary People” won without an editing nomination. “Green Book,” on the other hand, did have an editing nom.

2. It had a PGA win under its belt

The Producers Guild of America isn’t always consistent when forecasting the eventual Oscar winner. “The Big Short” won there in 2015, yet came up short to “Spotlight” at the Oscars. The following year “La La Land” won PGA, but lost the Oscar to “Moonlight.” That said, PGA is the only major industry precursor that utilizes a preferential ballot voting system for Best Picture like the academy does. So looking back “Green Book” winning there clearly should’ve been a sign. If “Roma” really was the runaway frontrunner, it should’ve prevailed at PGA.

Yet many wrote off that win for “Green Book,” especially since Farrelly was snubbed for a Best Director Oscar nomination despite showing up at the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and DGA Awards. But for films that won Best Picture without a directing bid since 1989 (“Driving Miss Daisy” and “Argo”), they prevailed at PGA beforehand. So “Green Book” also doing so indicated that love for the film itself was still there.

3. It was a feel good crowd-pleaser

From the moment “Green Book” had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (where it won the People’s Choice Award), it played like gangbusters with audiences. After the festival circuit it had a successful theatrical run, grossing over $321 million worldwide. And despite the academy’s efforts to welcome younger and more diverse members following #OscarsSoWhite in 2014 and 2015, the old guard was still largely present, and “Green Book” was exactly the kind of film that would play well with older voters.

Other crowd-pleasing hits in contention had something missing. “Black Panther” may have been one of the biggest hits of the year, but it didn’t have any other major above-the-line nominations for directing, acting or writing. “Bohemian Rhapsody” may have been a big commercial hit that prevailed in all of its other four noms, but it was not nominated for directing (arguably due to behind-the-scenes drama with its credited director Bryan Singer) or writing, and it was pretty divisive in general. “A Star is Born” was considered a threat to win early on in the season, but it lost a lot of momentum by the end, especially after missing out on a Best Director bid for Bradley Cooper. And that movie had a darker ending, whereas “Green Book” made the viewer feel good by the end.

4. It was relevant to the times

At the time Donald Trump was about two years into his term as President of the United States, during which he was notably known for racist policies and rhetoric. As “Green Book” explored the topic of race relations in America, several academy members might’ve felt that the film’s message that different races can and should get along despite their differences was especially resonant.

5. The backlash was actually more helpful than hurtful

Throughout the season “Green Book” faced controversies. Don Shirley’s family criticized it because they thought it misrepresented him. Also, co-writer/producer Nick Vallelonga (son of the real Frank Vallelonga) came under fire when a tweet of his from 2015, where he agreed with Trump’s false claim that Muslims in Jersey City cheered when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, resurfaced.

Plus there were critics who regarded “Green Book” as an old-fashioned, problematic white-savior narrative. Yet those issues clearly didn’t influence the actual industry. There were also reportedly a number of academy members who resented the backlash against “Green Book.” Just goes to show how online bashing can sometimes backfire.

“Ricky Stanicky” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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