Before Green Book won Best Picture at Sunday night’s Oscars, there were whispers that it was the subject of a smear campaign. When the movie’s producers were asked about the rumor in the Oscars’ press room, they revealed how they dealt with it: by watching Green Book a couple more times, naturally. “Yes, it was discouraging,” producer Jim Burke said of the press attention to screenwriter Nick Vallelonga’s Islamophobic tweets, Peter Farrelly’s history of pranking actors by flashing his penis, and criticism of the movie from the family of its main character, Dr. Don Shirley. “But we always went back to the film. And when we had a bad day, we’d pop in the movie, and we were reminded that we’re all really proud of this film, all of us and all of the over 500 people who helped make it.” That’s one way to look at it!
