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'Green Book' Oscar campaign unravels after twin controversies involving director, writer

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Press Trust of India Los Angeles
Last Updated : Jan 10 2019 | 4:50 PM IST

After Viggo Mortensen, "Green Book" director Peter Farrelly and writer Nick Vallelonga have both landed in separate controversies which could adversely affect the movie's Oscar campaign after its three wins at the Golden Globes.

The film, featuring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortenson as a black concert pianist Don Shirley and his Italian-American driver Tony Vallelonga who become unlikely friends, won a Globe Award on Sunday for best musical or comedy film, besides writing and supporting trophies.

Farrelly found himself embroiled in a controversy after an old story resurfaced where he admitted to flashing his privates as a joke.

The Cut magazine republished excerpts from the director's 1998 Newsweek profile, where Farrelly admitted to pulling out his penis in front of several people on his film sets.

After the revelation, Farrelly issued a statement, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, corroborating the stories and apologised for his behaviour.

"I was an idiot. I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I'm embarrassed and it makes me cringe now. I'm deeply sorry," the director said.

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In The Newsweek profile of Farrelly and his brother Bobby, which came before the release of their directorial "There's Something About Mary", features an anecdote from the film's star Cameron Diaz.

"When a director shows you his penis the first time you meet him, you've got to recognise the creative genius," she had said.

Meanwhile, the film's writer Vallelonga has found himself on shaky ground after his old tweets resurfaced in which he claimed to have witnessed thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrate the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

The tweets were in response to US President Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric where he had said that he saw Muslims celebrating with his own eyes, something that was debunked later.

"@realDonaldTrump 100% correct. Muslims in Jersey City cheering when towers went down. I saw it, as you did, possibly on local CBS news," Vallelonga wrote.

Soon after the tweet resurfaced, Vallelonga's entire Twitter profile was deleted.

The film was earlier criticised by family members of Shirley for its alleged narrative falsehoods.

Mortensen had also attracted controversy after he used the N-word during a promotional panel discussion in November last year. The actor later apologised, saying that his "intention was to speak strongly against racism".

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First Published: Jan 10 2019 | 4:50 PM IST

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