Something about Peter
After Academy Award win, mayor wants to celebrate the achievement and offer the keys to the town
After taking home an Academy Award, the mayor of Cumberland has some keys he’d like to give to Peter Farrelly.
CUMBERLAND — It should d come as no surprise that Peter Farrelly, a past town resident and longtime Hollywood movie producer, director and screenwriter with his brother Bobby, has become the focus of a local tribute Mayor Jeffrey r Mutter is looking to bestow upon f him for his Academy Award winning work on the 2018 film, Green Book.
Green Book also collected the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for d Mahershala Ali’s performance as Jazz and Classical pianist “Doc” Don Shirley and 2019 Golden Globe Awards for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, Best t Screenplay and again Best Supportt ing Actor to Ali.
Viggo Mortensen was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as t Shirley’s former club bouncer and driver, but lost to Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek.
“I am so proud of Mr. Farrelly for the awards he has accumulated throughout his career as a tremendously talented screenwriter, producer and director. He is proof that with determination and commitment, anything is possible,” Mutter said in announcing the town’s interest in honoring Farrelly on Tuesday.
“All of us in Cumberland are so proud of you, Peter, and I invite you to return back home, so the residents and I can celebrate your successes and give you the keys to the Town,” Mutter stated.
No date for such a visit has been set thus far and Farrelly could not be reached for comment on Tuesday about the town’s tribute plan.
Farrelly directed the Best Picture Oscar winning comedy-drama and co-wrote its screenplay with Nick Vallelonga, Tony’s son, and Brian Hayes Curries, for which they also collected the Oscar for Best Screenplay at the Academy Awards in February.
Green Book is the true story of an eight-week-long car tour that a brilliant African-American Jazz and Classical pianist from New York City, Shirley, and his Bronx native Italian-American driver and bodyguard, Vallelonga, made into the deep South in the early 1960s and experienced racially-directed social injustice. The two developed a friendship that helped them overcome the racial bigotry targeting African Americans they encountered along the way. The film relates how that friendship also continued through the rest of their lives. Green Book, titled for a guide book helping African-Americans find welcoming and safe hotel and motel accommodations and restaurants, includes troubling scenes of bigotry and racist violence contrast against Vallelonga and Shirley learning more about each other and their ethnic backgrounds in sometimes humorous ways.
The film is a career masterpiece for Farrelly who had previously focused on producing and writing comedy films with his brother Bobby Farrelly that drew laughs with sight gags and outlandish characters and plot lines. They bolstered their films with the performances of top Hollywood talents and celebrities including cameos by the likes of Meryl Streep, Jay Leno and a young Tom Brady.
The Farrellys’ popular comedies include Dumb and Dumber featuring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in 1994, Something About Mary with Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller in 1998, and Stuck on You teaming up Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Eva Mendes and Cher in 2003.
The Farrellys’ never forgot their ties to Rhode Island and premiered There’s Something about Mary at the Stadium Theatre with their Hollywood friends in tow and returned to Woonsocket to hold the Eastern U.S. premiere of Stuck on You at the Stadium with Cher along for the ride.
The Farrellys’ have also kept in touch with local friends such as John Chan, whose Main Street restaurant, Chan’s Fine Oriental Dining, they visited during their local premieres. Chan even gained a role as an “incessant photographer” for which they gave him an award at the Stadium for “Best Performance Cut from the Film.”
Peter Farrelly thinking of the Ocean State again while collecting his screenwriting award on Oscar night and gave a shout out to Rhode Island.
Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office also had praise for Peter Farrelly’s Oscar success on Tuesday.
“This is great exposure for the Town of Cumberland and the entire State of Rhode Island, but to have Peter Farrelly win and acknowledge live on stage `I want to thank the great State of Rhode Island,’ is the best visibility in Show Business,” Feinberg said in the “keys to Cumberland” announcement. “We couldn’t be prouder. I join Mayor Mutter in congratulating him and celebrating his vast achievements here in Rhode Island.”