“You’re going to wish you were dead”: Sandra Bullock Recalls Life-Altering Meeting With Leigh Anne Tuohy, Was Scared “From the minute she opened the door”
Starring Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side, a 2009 American sports drama film directed and written by John Lee Hancock and based on the 2006 Michael Lewis novel of the same name, tells the story of Michael Oher, an offensive lineman for a football team, who overcame obstacles in his life to play in the NFL with the aid of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy.
Sean Tuohy was portrayed in the film by Tim McGraw, while Oher was portrayed by Quinton Aaron. The movie was a commercial success even though it had mixed reviews when it first came out because it immediately attracted attention. Bullock, who won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film, received a lot of praise for the role. She went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. The movie once again gained attention in recent days, with Michael Oher alleging that the story was based on a lie.
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Sandra Bullock confessed to being scared of Leigh Anne Tuohy
In an interview with EW, back in 2009, actress Sandra Bullock, who had portrayed the lead character in the movie, confessed that Leigh Anne Tuohy scared her. She said,
“Leigh Anne scared me from the minute she opened the door. I was sitting in a chair in her house with my little hands folded in my lap. I couldn’t say anything.”
The actress also revealed that she was reluctant to say yes to the part, adding that she did not trust it. Sandra Bullock continued, “I thought it would be schmaltzy and soft”, but after she spent a day with the real Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy she changed her mind and said yes to the project.
Bullock noted, “At the end of the day, Leigh Anne took a little hand pistol out of her glove compartment and said, ‘Y’all just need to carry one of these’. I kid you not. If you were her friend, she would stop at nothing to get done what she needed to get done for you. If you’re her enemy, forget about it — you’re going to wish you were dead.”
Quinton Aaron was hard to find for Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side
John Lee Hancock shared during the interview that once they had convinced Bullock to be a part of the movie, they needed to find Oher’s character, which was challenging for them at the time.
Hancock said, “When Quinton walked in, your first instinct was to give him a hug, the director had explained that Aaron had never met Oher but he could understand his struggles; I didn’t know my father. I was the eldest child in school. I wasn’t that popular,” says the 25-year-old, whose mother died just before he was cast. “I could relate to a lot of the stuff Michael went through.”
Leigh Anne Tuohy shared that at the time of the release of the movie, “She did a good job. And if she’d done a bad job, I would have told you in a second — I’m all about being honest.” lastly added, “Situations get exaggerated for the sake of Hollywood. I understood that when I heard a movie was being made, but it’s a strange process to live through to suddenly lose control of your own story and to have your story written and nearly completed before you were approached for an interview.”
Why was the movie The Blind Side back in the headlines?
The Blind Side movie, along with the actors in it, was once again under the spotlight as real-life Michael Oher filed a legal petition against Tuohys on 14th August claiming that the duo never really adopted him and kept him from making money off the movie.
According to reports by reports by news publications, Oher had requested the court to end his conservatorship and noted that the Tuohys would no longer use his name. After the former player filed a dispute, fans started to demand Bullock return her Academy Award which she won because of the movie and he decided to come to her rescue by sharing with TMZ “I think people just need to chill out, relax, and let the families involved handle whatever’s going on, and just—I guess—enjoy the show because it’s out there for everyone to see.”
Quinton Aaron said in an interview that, “Sandra Bullock didn’t have anything to do with the real story that we’re reading as of right now.” He also admitted, “When he thought he was being adopted at 18, the Tuohys urged him to sign a conservatorship that gave them control to enter into contracts on his behalf. He says that the familial bond, warmly portrayed in the movie, was a lie and that the Tuohys enriched themselves at his expense.”
Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have now agreed and are willing to terminate the conservatorship by consent at any time.
Source: EW
