‘Green Book’ Producer Sent An Angry Email To Writer Who Criticized The Best Picture Winner

Let’s play a game. Imagine you’re one of the people involved in the production of “Green Book.” Writer, producer, director, star, whatever. After winning Best Picture Sunday night at the Oscars, you are riding high. Parties are thrown. Compliments are given. Your dreams have come true. But then you wake up on Monday morning. And boy, oh boy, the party is quickly over. The LA Times and others published thinkpieces calling your film the worst Best Picture winner since “Crash.” Ouch. Social media is on fire with negative comments about “Green Book.” That would make anyone mad, right? Well, apparently, for one of the producers on “Green Book,” he was so sick of all the hate his film was receiving, he took it upon himself to let a writer know.

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Justin Chang of the LA Times said, in a post-Oscars article, “‘Green Book’ is the worst best picture Oscar winner since ‘Crash,’ and I don’t make the comparison lightly. Like that 2005 movie, Peter Farrelly’s interracial buddy dramedy is insultingly glib and hucksterish, a self-satisfied crock masquerading as an olive branch. It reduces the long, barbaric and ongoing history of American racism to a problem, a formula, a dramatic equation that can be balanced and solved. ‘Green Book’ is an embarrassment; the film industry’s unquestioning embrace of it is another.”

“Glib,” “Embarrassment,” “Hucksterish.” Not the words that are associated with most Best Picture winners. This would be enough to really get under the skin of anyone working on the film, right?

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However, the article that really pissed off producer Charles Wessler was printed back in November, around the official release of the film. The article was written by Jenni Miller of NBC News, with the headline “Green Book’ is a movie about racism, made by white people for white people. See the problem?” You can probably glean from that headline what Miller’s thesis is.

Well, after the surprise Best Picture win, Miller went on Twitter to publish screenshots of a very…uncomfortable email received from Wessler, where the producer thoroughly tears apart her article in a way that is most definitely not very professional.

He opens by saying, “‘Green Book’ is the furthest thing from a racist movie.”

Wessler continues [punctuation and emphasis are his own, and not ours], “It was made by white people and black people. There is no ‘problem’ as you say in your Click Bait headline. African Americans for the most part LOVE this film. How can you determine that this is made for white people when IN FACT you do NOT know.”

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From there, he continues in a similar fashion. The full email is below, if you’re so inclined. But the interesting thing is how defensive the folks behind “Green Book” have gotten in the weeks leading up to the Oscars. With multiple reports highlighting writer Nick Vallelonga’s anti-muslim tweets, Peter Farrelly’s questionable behavior with Cameron Diaz, and what many consider to be a classic example of “white savior” filmmaking, it appears that the folks behind the scenes are reading it all and getting very, very upset.

But then again, wouldn’t you do the same? Obviously, the email to the writer could have been worded very differently. It definitely could have been a bit more friendly. (Side note: this writer has had his fair share of letters written by directors, producers, etc. regarding articles published. And while I won’t name names, I will say that each one that I’ve received has been professional and courteous, even in times when my article probably didn’t deserve that courtesy.)

The full legacy of “Green Book” will be written in the years to come. However, at this time, all signs point to the film being a cautionary tale of when the Academy just gets one wrong.

https://twitter.com/msjennimiller/status/1099895929681915908