Exclusive: Mahershala Ali Talks Green BookPosted by Wilson Morales
November 15, 2018
Universal Pictures has released the trailer for the upcoming drama Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen and Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight). Peter Farrelly (There’s Something about Mary) directs the warmhearted and surprisingly comic road-trip adventure based on a true friendship that transcended race, class and the 1962 Mason-Dixon line.
Green Book tells the story of Tony Lip (Mortensen), an Italian-American bouncer with a seventh-grade education, who’s hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley (Ali), a world-class African-American pianist on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South. Together, they must rely on the “Negro Motorist Green Book” to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for Blacks. Confronted with racism, danger—as well as unexpected humanity and humor—they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.
For Mahershala Ali, it’s his big role since winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Barry Jenkins’ Oscar winning film, Moonlight. Having played supporting characters for most of his career, this role will take Ali into a new direction and hopefully land him with work.
Since winning the Oscar, you must have received a number of offers, so what attracted you to this?
Mahershala Ali: Don Shirley. Don Shirley is a figure that we’ve never seen before. One, the script was really good. It really was. It was great on the page. When you have the power to be a little bit more selfish, and start looking at what characters you want to take on, and what is speaking to you, specifically, honestly Don Shirley was that guy. I hadn’t seen him before on screen, and it was a really challenging character, and I needed something that was going to wake me up. Something that I was going to have to wrestle with to bring to life, and really put in some work on.
And I got to do that with Don Shirley. It really scratched that itch for me. He’s a dynamic person. A dynamic personality. Really particular, and specific, and picky, and fussy, and brilliant. He’s flawed. He’s brilliant. And somebody who was still growing, and definitely had something to say and contribute. So to get to play him in the context of this story, that has both light and dark … Had the lighter qualities. The qualities of humor and comedy, but also to take you sort of to the depths and shaking you to your core, and show you the more vulnerable aspects of a character, were all something that I was really excited to try to take on. Nervous about, but also really excited.
How much research did you do? There’s the musical aspect of it, but did you know a lot about Don Shirley? Or were you learning as you went along with the movie?
Mahershala Ali: I was learning as I went along. I didn’t know anything about Dr. Shirley. But I enjoyed getting to know his music better. I enjoyed getting to understand why he was making some of the choices that he made in his music. From playing pop show tunes, and squeezing in some classical music here and there. Learning what that was about, and learning that came from him not really playing the music that he wanted to play, so he was trying to find ways to incorporate that in there. It was amazing learning about some of his experiences, and how cultured he was. And also what he was trying to do in going through the South as somebody that was absolutely empowered, and not in need of any help or really, anyone. And choosing to go down South, and expose Southern, white America, to an intelligent, cultured, educated, talented, black man. And making it that much more difficult to say that we didn’t belong, and that we weren’t equal.
Can you talk about working with Viggo, and establishing that chemistry that audiences are finding fascinating?
Mahershala Ali: Viggo is amazing. He’s a brilliant guy. He removed the work out of it. He’s just a good guy, a really beautiful person. We enjoyed working together and I think that bled into what you see on screen, in terms of us finding a real rhythm and a buoyancy in our communication and in the telling of the story.
We were rooting for each other. We were going for each other. If I had a great take, but the take was a little suspect for Viggo, or he didn’t get something he wanted, we were both doing another take. It wasn’t “Oh, we need another take for Viggo”, it was “We both gotta have another take, ’cause we didn’t get what we wanted then”. And the chemistry, I think, came from a place of love, respect, and admiration for each other. And just generosity. Just looking out for each other. And, that included Pete in that equation as well.
This is a big role for you because looking back at the work you’ve done before, you’ve been a part of a big ensemble cast. But for this one, this is a lead role where there is a lot of you on the page. How does that make you feel as an actor? And was it a challenge for you knowing that you have to carry a lot of the load, along with Viggo?
Mahershala Ali: It was refreshing to get to go home at night and be tired for the right reasons. Not tired ’cause you’re waiting around to work, but tired because you’re working. That is a great feeling. It’s a place that I’ve wanted to be for a really long time. The closest thing I’ve had to a lead in my time in the business and working for 20 years. I feel really blessed and fortunate to have actually gotten to this place. And then followed that up with True Detective, where I was the lead in that. I’ve been working professionally since 2000. And I’ve been acting since 1993, and this is my first close to a lead, and True Detective was my first actual lead. It’s been a lot of prayers, patience, and persistence.
How was working with Peter Farrelly and what did you pick up, or take from working with him as you go on to your next project?
Mahershala Ali: I think Pete does a wonderful job of being absolutely committed, but keeping the faith, keep believing, it’ll be all right. It’ll work out, it’ll be fine. That’s what Pete says, “It’ll be fine, we’ll get it, we’ll get it”. And I’ll take that with me. I think in terms of working with Viggo, I think what I will take with me is … It’s leaning in on the meticulous qualities, the meticulous nature of character work, gave me … Just being around him, in my mind, it gave me permission to really take it further than what I’ve done in the past. And gave me permission to … Without vocalizing, it, but really just giving me permission to go as far as I can go, and really get into the details and nuances of character building.
Green Book will hit theaters November 16.
