The Real Pianist Behind The Movie ‘Green Book’

The filmmakers didn’t line up Don Shirley’s original music with Mahershala Ali’s fingers; instead, they got a Julliard-trained pianist to play it. Kris Bowers “had never heard of Don Shirley. Bowers immersed himself in Shirley’s recordings. That made him nervous. ‘I was pretty scared actually once I listened to it because of how intricate it was, how difficult it was,’ Bowers says.” But he transcribed all of the music and then listened to it repeatedly, practicing for up to nine hours a day for the part. – NPR