But Mortensen has continued to defend the film, and has insisted that it will “stand the test of time” in a new interview with The Film Stage (via The Playlist).

“The dumbass in that story was the white guy,” Mortensen said. “There was a steep learning curve for the character I played. But they both learned from each other. And the fact is, it was based on real events. So the people that really tried to do damage to the movie’s reputation during its run, as you say, and people still to this day are like, oh, is this the ‘Green Book’ of this year? As if it’s a stain to have been part of that movie, which is ridiculous. That very small minority was either unknowingly or knowingly misinformed and misinforming about the foundation of that story, and the friendship that it’s based on.” Related ‘Green Book’ Actor Frank Vallelonga Jr. Found Dead Outside of Bronx Factory 20 Years Later, the ‘Lord of the Rings’ Extended Editions Remain the DVDs to Rule Them All Related Oscars 2023: Can Anyone Top ‘Maverick’ in Best Sound? Influential Awards Bodies Reshape 2023 Best Documentary Feature Race
He added, “That was unfortunate, and very irritating, because we wanted to talk about the movie and the subject of racism historically and how things hadn’t still hadn’t changed enough by a long shot, as we’ve seen in the last couple of years — certainly, that’s evident. It was unfortunate that it happened, but the public, of all stripes, in all countries, reacted extremely favorably to the movie. I think — and I said so at the time — I think it’s a really good movie and it’s going to stand the test of time.” Mortensen also said that “Green Book” is “up there in the finest tradition of the best work from people like Preston Sturges and others. It’s a really well-made movie, period, and a valuable glimpse of a specific time in U.S. history, with repercussions to this day and with lessons for this day.” Finally, when asked about how he was treated at the time the movie came out, he said, “I got shit for that, but why should I retreat? It was a great story, well told. The studio [Universal Pictures] retreated for too long. It was an annoyance, but I’m open to talk to anybody about anything.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.