Movie Notes

Green Book defies the oddsmakers and wins the Oscar for Best Picture

by Charlie Smith on February 24th, 2019 at 8:28 PM
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      When Julia Roberts announced the winner of the Best Picture Oscar tonight, it likely surprised many in the audience.

      Green Book did not win for Best Director or Best Actor.

      The favourite going into tonight's broadcast, according to the oddsmakers, was Roma, which had already won for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director.

      Yet the film about pianist Don Shirley and his tough-talking driver, Tony Lip, travelling through the Deep South in the early 1960s ended up winning the most coveted and potentially lucrative award of the evening.

      Director Peter Farrelly declared that Green Book was a story about love.

      "It's about loving each other despite our differences," he declared.

      Green Book's win was announced by Julia Roberts.

      He also said the film started with Viggo Mortensen, who played Tony Lip and who was nominated for Best Actor.

      Mahershala Ali, who played Shirley, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

      Mahershala Ali won his second Oscar in three years.

      Not everyone was thrilled with the decision of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members.

      Director Spike Lee, whose BlacKkKlansmen was nominated for Best Picture, said afterward that he felt he had just witnessed a bad call by the ref at Madison Square Garden.

      Watch the video of Lee's remarks below.

      Do the Right Thing and BlacKkKlansmen were overlooked for Best Picture. The winners in each case were the road movies Driving Miss Daisy and Green Book.