One of the biggest fan-favorites to date, The Blind Side (2009) surpassed all expectations. With Sandra Bullock in its lead playing Leigh Anne Tuohy, the movie is based on the real-life story of Tuohy, who gave shelter to Michael Oher, the young football player. But while the movie went on to become another name in the list of leading movies of all time, some reports have turned up revealing a lot of news behind the making of the movie.
This includes the revelation that Sandra Bullock was never the original choice for playing the role of Tuohy in the movie, even though the actress even won her first Oscar for her outstanding performance.
Leigh Anne Tuohy Didn’t Want Sandra Bullock In The Lead Role In The Blind Side
According to Leigh Anne Tuohy herself, Sandra Bullock wasn’t her first choice for the movie. But rather, it was initially planned for Julia Roberts. Revealing in an interview how the Miss Congeniality star ended up bagging the role, Tuohy said,
“My part was completely written for Julia Roberts by 20th Century Fox. She was locked, she was loaded, everything was great. We were on G waiting for O. At some point, she realized that there was a time constraint in this because John Lee [Hancock] was very specific of how he wanted to film The Blind Side. She’d already had two commitments, and she could not fit that time frame and they worked, they tried to juggle and it just didn’t happen.”
She continued to reveal that despite her turning up for the role, Bullock wasn’t sure if she should go on with the movie because it was about a ‘conservative Christian family’. But after meeting the people in real life and fully accompanying herself with their important characteristics, she finally agreed to do the role. Sharing how she felt about her overall performance, Leigh Anne Tuohy said,
“It was amazing. I mean, she wore my same makeup, fingernail polish, my clothing. She would go through my stuff. I was like, ‘Sandy, no one knows this, get over it.’ But she’s a perfectionist. When the movie was over the kids were like … ‘There’s two of them running around.’ She nailed it that much.”
But while the Sandra Bullock starrer movie ended up becoming a masterpiece based on a real-life story, it turns out that the actual story behind the movie wasn’t so nice after all.
Leigh Anne Tuohy Allegedly Lied To Michael Oher
As per recent reports, Michael Oher has alleged the Tuohys of having tricked him into making them his conservators instead of foster parents by getting a conservatorship filing signed by him when he was 18. They furthermore invited the NFL star to move in with them officially during the summer of 2004, the same year his father died.
“Where other parents of Michael’s classmates saw Michael simply as a nice kid in need, Conservators Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy saw something else: a gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit. Almost immediately after Michael moved in, the Tuohys presented him with what he understood to be legal papers that were a necessary step in the adoption process,” the filing claims.
It further claims that the family falsely represented themselves as Oher’s foster parents publicly just to make money out of him through the Sandra Bullock starrer movie, from which he earned no benefit. Nonetheless, the NFL star has filed a legal petition against the Tuohys and the final verdict is yet to be issued.
Source: Deseret News
