Shirley family reaction
Shirley's relatives condemned the film, stating that they were not contacted by studio representatives until after development, and that it misrepresented Shirley's relationship with his family. Don's brother Maurice Shirley said, "My brother never considered Tony to be his 'friend'; he was an employee, his chauffeur (who resented wearing a uniform and cap). This is why context and nuance are so important. The fact that a successful, well-to-do Black artist would employ domestics that did NOT look like him, should not be lost in translation."[43]
Mahershala Ali responded with an apology to Shirley’s nephew Edwin Shirley III, saying that "I did the best I could with the material I had" and that he was not aware that there were "close relatives with whom I could have consulted to add some nuance to the character."[44] Writer-director Peter Farrelly said that he was under the impression that there "weren't a lot of family members" still alive, that they did not take major liberties with the story, and that relatives of whom he was aware had been invited to a private screening for friends and family.[44] On January 14, 2019, NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar published a piece in The Hollywood Reporter defending Green Book despite its alleged historical inaccuracies. Abdul-Jabbar argued that discrepancies of some of the depicted events "may irk family members", but "they don't really matter because those plot details are about getting to a greater truth than whatever the mundane facts are."[45]
Nick Vallelonga said in a January 2019 interview with Variety magazine that Dr. Shirley asked him not to speak to anyone else while writing the story. He went on to explain:
It's unfortunate to me because I don't want to hurt the Shirley family in any way. [Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga] were together a year and a half and they did remain friends. There's a lot of information [that the Shirley family] doesn't have, and they were hurt that I didn't speak to them. But to be quite honest with you, Don Shirley himself told me not to speak to anyone. And he only wanted certain parts of his life. He only allowed me to tell what happened on the trip. Since [the family] were not on the trip—this is right out of his mouth—he said, "No one else was there but your father and I. We've told you." And he approved what I put in and didn't put in. So obviously, to say I didn't contact them, that was hard for me because I didn't want to betray what I promised him.[46]
Originally Posted by Hal-9000
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