Oscars 2019: ‘Green Book’ Wins Best Picture In Shocking Upset

The most unpredictable Best Picture race in years finally has a winner.

“Green Book” won the Academy’s top honor during Sunday’s Oscars, with director Peter Farrelly, stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali and the film’s producers taking the stage to accept the award from Julia Roberts.

“Green Book” was nominated for five Oscars this year. In addition to Best Picture, it was up for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. The film ultimately won three awards total, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Ali, his second Oscar in three years.

Green Book producer Jim Burke seemed to address the controversy surrounding the film in his acceptance speech, saying, “We made this film with love. We made it with tenderness and we made it with respect, and it was all done under the direction of Pete Farrelly.”

“The whole story is about love. It’s about loving each other despite our differences and finding out the truth about who we are — we’re the same people. This doesn’t start, by the way, without Viggo Mortensen. We have no movie… all these awards are because Viggo, Mahershala and Linda[Cardellini], but it started with Viggo,” Farrelly said.

Farrelly also thanked Octavia Spencer, who is the only black producer on Green Book and credited as a consulting producer. Spencer will likely not be receiving an Oscar for her contributions to the film.

A huge bummer that @octaviaspencer doesn’t have a “producer” or “produced by” credit on #GreenBook. She won’t have any part of the film’s nomination or potential win for #Oscars Best Picture win, if it makes it that far. pic.twitter.com/X12g122Ef4

— Stacy Lambe (@sllambe) January 7, 2019

The Best Picture win didn’t come without controversy, however, as the film has faced considerable criticism throughout awards season: There was Mortensen using the N-word during a post-screening Q&A and an anti-Muslim tweet from screenwriter Nick Vallelonga (who is the son of the film’s subject) resurfacing, plus the family of Dr. Don Shirley, who Ali portrays in the film, calling the movie “a symphony of lies.”

“You learn, you grow. You try to become a better person,” Farrelly told ET of facing the backlash. “It’s all ultimately about the movie and that’s what we hope people see. I love this movie. I think it’s special.”

This year’s Best Picture nominees also included “Black Panther”, “BlacKkKlansman”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “The Favourite”, “Roma”, “A Star Is Born” and “Vice”.

In the run-up to the Oscars, each of this year’s nominees was lauded at a different awards show: “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book” won the Golden Globes, “Black Panther” and “Roma” dominated the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild Awards, respectively, “A Star Is Born” shone at the GRAMMYs and “The Favourite” won at the BAFTAs, among many more accolades for each film.