Who is the Blind Side Based on the True Story?

“The Blind Slide” is a 2009 family sports drama movie directed by John Lee Hancock (“The Alamo”). The story takes place in Tennessee and is about a young African American man named Michael “Big Mike” Oher (Quinton Aaron).

His mother has problems with drug abuse, and his father is not in his life. He has been sent to several foster homes, but he keeps running away and going back to his mother. Tony Hamilton, the father of one of his friends, helps him get into Wingate Christian School.

However, he has trouble in school, making the teachers think he is not a good student. Michael moves into the school gym when his friends kick him out of their house. One night, when he goes back to the gym, he meets Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her family.

After that, everyone’s lives change. The Tuohys invite Michael into their home and help him reach his full potential. Michael also helps the Tuohys become closer as a family. Michael does great things in the future.

He plays football, goes to college, and gets picked up by the National Football League. If the movie’s happy story made you wonder if it was based on real events, here’s what you need to know.

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Who is the Blind Side Based on the True Story?

Yes, “The Blind Side” is based on a real story. Hancock made the movie from a script he wrote himself. The script was based on Michael Lewis’s nonfiction book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game,” which came out in 2006.

Michael, Leigh Anne, her husband Sean (Tim McGraw), and their biological children Sean “S.J.” Tuohy Jr. (Jae Head) and Collins (Lily Collins) are all real people. But there were some changes made to the book when it was turned into a movie, which made some people, including Oher, upset.

Bullock was at first hesitant to play Leigh Anne, a devout Christian, in the movie because she thought she wouldn’t be able to do it justice. But after she met Mrs. Tuohy, she changed her mind.

She even agreed to get less money in return for a share of the profits. “The Blind Side” became a huge hit, making $309.2 million at the box office on a budget of $29 million, and Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

“Blindside” is a term used in American and Canadian football to describe the side of the field that a player (usually the quarterback) can’t see. This position on the field is called tackle. Both in the movie and in real life, Michael Oher is an offensive tackle.

His main job is to protect the quarterback and whoever has the ball. The first book by Lewis is not just about Oher. The other thing the source is about is linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Taylor doesn’t show up in the movie, but he is talked about more than once. Parts of “The Blind Side” are based on real events, while other parts are made up. As shown in the movie, Michael Oher’s real mother used to be a drug addict, and his real father was killed.

Also, Michael’s family was big, just like the movie shows. He had 12 siblings. Tony Hamilton, the father of Michael’s friend who helps him get into Wingate Christian School, is based on Tony Henderson. At the time the movie came out, Tony Henderson ran an athletic program for the kids in his neighborhood. Wingate Christian is just made up.

Michael went to Briarcrest Christian School in real life. The school administrators asked the producers not to use the name of their school because they were worried about the script’s artistic freedom.

Michael played football at Briarcrest, where Hugh Freeze was his coach. The character Burt Cotton in the movie is based on him. He did help Michael get into Briarcrest, and he was also a big part of Michael’s growth as a football player after that.

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Who is the Cast of Blind Side?

Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy,
Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy,
Kathy Bates as Miss Sue
Lily Collins as Collins Tuohy
Ray McKinnon as Coach Cotton
Kim Dickens as Mrs. Boswell

Blind Side Release Date

On March 23, 2010, The Blind Side came out on DVD and Blu-ray. For 28 days, Blockbuster was the only place you could rent it. Customers of both Redbox and Netflix had to wait 28 days before they could rent the movie.

This is because Redbox and Warner Home Video settled a lawsuit that Redbox filed against Warner Home Video. Warner Home Video had refused to sell wholesale titles to Redbox in order to boost sales of DVDs.

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