On the heels of "Green Book" winning the Golden Globe for best musical or comedy feature, director Peter Farrelly was asked his favorite scene to shoot. Instead, he offered his most memorable moment from the film.
Early in the movie, bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga throws away two lemonade glasses after a pair of black plumbers drink out of them. Portrayed by Viggo Mortensen, Tony Lip ultimately redeems himself, but the scene was jarring for the actors who participated in the scene.
"The two workers, they hadn't read the script, they'd just read the scene and they were hired," he recalled. "They were like, 'What the hell kind of movie is this?' And they quite literally pulled me aside and were like, 'Isn't he the hero?' I was like, 'Yeah' and they said, 'Why would he do that?'"
This prompted Farrelly to pull them aside and explain the entirety of the plot. "It really stuck out to me that these guys were ready to walk off the set if I didn't have a good answer to that question."
Multiple questions went to the film's producer Octavia Spencer, who served as a sounding board to Farrelly during production.
"I have been a part of four films from this era and this was the first time that I saw a person of color with agency," she said. "And I thought, 'This is a guy I'd want to know ... .So for me, it was about the idea that there were people like Don Shirley in the '60s and we never saw that on film."
"Also, she was in the editing room right out of the gate," added Farrelly. "We had about 40 minutes cut together and I wanted her to see it to tonally approve it and tell me we were on the right path. She gave me a lot of confidence being there in that room with me and helping me early on."
