Mahershala Ali apologises to family of Green Book character: ‘I did the best I could with the material I had’

Mahershala Ali has apologised to the family of the character he plays in the film Green Book after they branded it a “symphony of lies”.

The Oscar-touted film, which has been nominated for five Golden Globes, follows African-American jazz pianist Dr Don Shirley who befriends Italian-American bouncer Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) after hiring him as his chauffeur during a 1960s tour of the Deep South.

Since the film’s debut in the US, members of Shirley’s family have claimed that nobody was consulted during its development – something which prompted the Moonlight actor to pick up the phone and apologise.

The jazz icon’s nephew Edwin Shirley III told NPR: “He called me and my Uncle Maurice in which he apologised profusely if there had been any offence.

“What he said was, ‘If I have offended you, I am so, so terribly sorry. I did the best I could with the material I had. I was not aware that there were close relatives with whom I could have consulted to add some nuance to the character’.”

Shirley’s family claim they only discovered Green Book was being made after spotting an Instagram post about the film by Ali in January 2018. According to The Wrap, it was Vallelonga’s son Nick who reportedly received permission from Shirley to make the film.

“I met Nick for the first time at the premiere and I told him, ‘I have to give you credit for tenacity because you have been trying to get this thing done for 30 years,’” Edwin told Shadow & Act. “And that’s when he told me, ‘Oh, yeah, well my father and I went to see him and he gave us his blessing,’ and I told him that was hard to believe.”

Edwin criticised the film for portraying his uncle in a “deeply hurtful” manner, stating that a scene suggesting he was estranged from his family was “100 per cent wrong”.

Shirley’s brother, Maurice, claimed the central friendship between the lead characters didn’t exist.

“You asked what kind of relationship he had with Tony?” Maurice said. ”He fired Tony, which is consistent with the many firings he did with all of his chauffeurs over time.”

Green Book is released in the UK on 1 February.

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