Topline
Michael Lewis, the author of the book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game said on Wednesday that Hollywood was the true villain of the controversy that erupted this week when Michael Oher — whose adoption and early football career inspired both the book and the movie — said he was cheated out of money by the Tuohy family that ostensibly adopted him.
Author of ‘The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game’ Michael Lewis spoke out about the recent controversy … [+]
Key Facts
Lewis told The Washington Post that despite the success of the movie—which made more than $300 million—no one involved in the book it was based on saw profits and only Hollywood benefitted, saying “everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system” and that Oher should join the writers strike.
Lewis wrote the book, “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game”, after hearing the story firsthand from Sean Tuohy, who was his childhood friend and who acted as an adoptive father to Oher, the Post reported.
Lewis sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox for $250,000, which he said was split evenly between him and Tuohys, including Oher.
Lewis told the Post he believed Oher received some profit from the movie—though he alleged Oher stopped accepting royalty checks—and that no one received that much, saying he and the Tuohy family each received around $350,000 from the movie’s profits.
Crucial Quote
“What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close,” Lewis told the Post. “They showered him with resources and love. That he’s suspicious of them is breathtaking. The state of mind one has to be in to do that—I feel sad for him.”
Key Background
The Blind Side depicted the relationship between Oher, a teenager in the Tennessee foster care system, and the Tuohys, an affluent family of four who took Oher into their home and helped him play football at a private high school, eventually going on to play at their alma mater and for the Baltimore Ravens. But, this week, Oher filed a 14-page petition alleging he didn’t know the Tuohys didn’t actually adopt him, but were his conservators until earlier this year. He accused them of tricking him into signing the papers for them to be his conservators so they could make business deals in his name, including deals that prevented him from profiting from the book and movie based on his life. Oher is requesting the Tuohys pay him the money they received that he thinks should have been his, with interest for the time and other compensatory and punitive damages. The Tuohys, however, said through their attorney this week that Oher threatened them by “saying that he would plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million.” The family said they intend to “defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit.”
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/08/16/blind-side-author-says-hollywood-is-the-real-culprit-in-fight-between-michael-oher-and-the-tuohy-family/