According to Viggo Mortensen, the studio’s support was lacking. The film was criticized for racist historical inaccuracies

Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the 2018 hit Green Bookbut the film’s Oscar campaign was not as joyful and entertaining an event as one might think. Green Book was nominated for a total of five awards at the 2019 Academy Awards and won three of them: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Original Screenplay. Shortly after the film’s release Green Book has been the constant target of criticism from historians, film critics, and the general public due to historical inaccuracies and “covert racism against whites.”

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Mortensen addressed the controversy surrounding Green Books Oscar campaign. While the film was being dragged through the mud by the press, Mortensen and the team behind Green Book felt let down by the studio. Mortensen wished they had intervened sooner to refute journalists’ claims about the film’s portrayal of racism and real historical figures. The actor said:

“It was frustrating for me, as part of the film’s crew, to see the studio intimidated by the disingenuous criticism of the film, claiming it was not historically accurate, etc., or unfair in some way – intimidated by these kinds of rumors that spread like wildfire because of today’s social media, and that rival studios took great pleasure in and spread as widely as they could.

That’s what happened. I thought they should have been braver in refuting it. Finally, they did what we – Peter Farrelly, myself and others – wish we had done earlier: they released the footage showing that this is actually a true story and that this happened.”

Viggo Mortensen says Green Book is as popular as Lord of the Rings

To date, Mortensen is best known for his role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In the more than 20 years since the films were released, Mortensen has appeared at countless comic-cons and fan expos and reflected on his role in the trilogy. Lord of the Rings is an inescapable entertainment juggernaut in Mortensen’s filmography. However, the actor revealed that when approached by fans at events, Green Book is just as popular as Lord of the Ringsdespite the frequent criticism that was leveled at the film.

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Mortensen wished the studio behind Green Book would have noticed the attention and fan base the film was attracting and stepped in earlier to protect the project from “disingenuous criticism.” Not only would that have kept the film’s Oscar campaign positive, but Mortensen believes the studio would have benefited massively from a defensive stance. The actor explained:

“To this day, wherever I go, when people show up with pictures or DVDs and stuff, I see as much Green Book footage as Lord of the Rings. People loved that film. If the studio had been braver and reacted correctly early on, it would have made even more money at the box office.”

Mortensen recently returned to the screen in the film The dead don’t hurt, and below you can see our exclusive interview with the actor and Vicky Krieps.