1962

“Green Book” is a road movie, and so, like most road movies, it’s set in a variety of places, from New York City to Pennsylvania to Memphis to New Orleans.

Had Tony Lip really been racist before going on his trip with Don Shirley? Yes. In the movie, Lip (Viggo Mortensen) uses racial slurs. He throws away two drinking glasses that black repairmen drank out of while working at his home.

Jan

Frank Anthony Vallelonga Sr.

Linda Cardellini

So in “Green Book,” it’s a mafia kingpin — played by Cortese — who has his hat stolen by Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), the hard-up bouncer at the Copacabana, circa 1961, who then makes an ostentatious point of tracking it down and returning it to ingratiate himself with a powerful guy. It works.

Dr Don Shirley is a world-class African-American pianist, who is about to embark on a concert tour in the Deep South in 1962. In need of a driver and protection, Shirley recruits Tony Lip, a tough-talking bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx. Despite their differences, the two men soon develop an unexpected bond while confronting racism and danger in an era of segregation.

The Root said it “spoon-feeds racism to white people.” The New York Times wrote that the film has “very little that can’t be described as crude, obvious and borderline offensive.” Indiewire labeled Shirley’s character a “Magical Negro,” whose sole purpose in the film was to change a white man for the better.

It consisted primarily of rooming houses, motels/hotels, restaurants and other travel-related establishments. While the movie and guide book share the same name, it’s important to set your expectations. The movie’s major theme is a bird’s eye view of why the Green Book would have been needed.

“Green Book” would have been a good best picture winner in 1990, when “Driving Miss Daisy” took the top Oscar. Or in 2006, so we wouldn’t have had to hear about “Crash” for the next decade. And somehow “Green Book” still won best picture.

Louisville woman recreates modern version of ‘The Green Book’ to uplift, support Black-owned businesses. “The Green Book” was created to help Black people navigate the Jim Crow south. Now, a Louisville woman is creating one to uplift Black-owned businesses. LOUISVILLE, Ky.

1966

From the Green Book: The Green Book was in response to Jim Crow. It was created by Victor Hugo Green – reputedly named after Victor Hugo, French author of “Les Misérables” and other works – a Black postal worker and entrepreneur in Harlem who saw the need for a guide.

The second is actor Mahershala Ali, who portrays Shirley in the film but does not play piano. And so, the third pianist is Kris Bowers, who does all the playing for Ali in the film. But on screen, you’d swear Ali was playing. The actor’s tempo is perfect and his fingers hit all the right keys.

Mahershala Ali

Janusz Olejniczak

Jon Batiste

Incredibly, they were able to digitally save the notes being played on the soundtrack, and program them into the animation. That means the notes the character played in the animation matched the real notes being played on the piano.

In the new film Soul, Jamie Foxx provides his voice for Pixar’s first Black lead character, jazz pianist Joe Gardner, but someone else is playing the piano. Batiste was brought onto the project as a musical consultant alongside veteran film score composers Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (The Social Network).