Green Book casts Linda Cardellini opposite Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali
Emmy-nominated Linda Cardellini (Avengers: Age of Ultron, ER) has joined the cast of the upcoming film Green Book. She’ll appear with Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A History of Violence) and Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Moonlight). Green Book will be directed by Peter Farrelly (There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber) from a script he wrote with Nick Vallelonga and Brian Currie.
Participant Media announced today that the company will produce and finance Green Book through Amblin Partners. The project is produced by Jim Burke, Charles Wessler and Farrelly along with Vallelonga and Currie. Executive producers are Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King, along with Cinetic Media’s John Sloss and Steve Farneth as well as Kwame Parker. The film is slated to commence principal photography this week.
Green Book tells the true story of Tony Lip, an Italian-American bouncer with a seventh-grade education, who in 1962 was hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley, one of the world’s finest jazz pianists, on a concert tour from New York City through the pre-Civil Rights era Deep South. Since Dr. Shirley was African-American, the men relied on the Negro Motorist Green Book to guide them to the few motels, restaurants and gas stations that they were welcomed in below the Mason-Dixon Line. Confronted with racism, danger, and, sometimes unexpected humanity, the journey opened both men’s eyes to each other, and to the world they lived in.
Farrelly stated, “To have Viggo, Mahershala and Linda in my movie is a blessing and an embarrassment of riches. I am looking forward to working with all of them and sharing Nick’s testament to his father with the world.”
“We are proud to support the whole creative team on this film that beautifully highlights the enduring importance of friendship, family and the freedom to express yourself,” said Jonathan King, Participant’s President of Narrative Film & Television.
Green Book is planned for release through Participant’s output arrangements via Amblin Partners. Are you guys interested in the film? Let us know in the comments.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
