The Blind Side (2009)
Based on the true story of Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American, Michael Oher. Michael has no idea who his father is and his mother is a drug addict. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne soon takes charge however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael's skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft.
Based on the extraordinary true story
Michael Oher: Courage is a hard thing to figure. You can have courage based on a dumb idea or mistake, but you're not supposed to question adults, or your coach or your teacher, because they make the rules. Maybe they know best, but maybe they don't. It all depends on who you are, where you come from. Didn't at least one of the six hundred guys think about giving up, and joining with the other side? I mean, valley of death that's pretty salty stuff. That's why courage it's tricky. Should you always do what others tell you to do? Sometimes you might not even know why you're doing something. I mean any fool can have courage. But honor, that's the real reason for you either do something or you don't. It's who you are and maybe who you want to be. If you die trying for something important, then you have both honor and courage, and that's pretty good. I think that's what the writer was saying, that you should hope for courage and try for honor. And maybe even pray that the people telling you what to do have some, too.
Michael Oher: It's nice, I never had one before.
Leigh Anne Touhy: What, a room to yourself?
Michael Oher: A bed.
Michael Oher: [after pushing an opponent all the way off the field] Sorry, Coach. I stopped when I heard the whistle.
Coach Cotton: Where were you taking him?
Michael Oher: The bus. It was time for him to go home.
Beth: You're changing that boy's life.
Leigh Anne Touhy: No. He's changing mine.
Leigh Anne Touhy: I said you could thank me later. It's later, Bert.
Atlanta International School - 2890 N. Fulton Drive, Buckhead, Georgia, USA
The Westminster Schools - 1424 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Agnes Scott College - 141 E. College Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, USA
When Quinton Aaron auditioned for the film, he was working as a security guard between acting gigs. After his audition, he left a card with his contact information and offered to work as a security guard on the set in case he wasn't selected to play Michael Oher.
Collins Tuohy, an A student, rearranged her schedules, and dropped out of several advanced placement classes, to share more classes with Michael Oher and help him graduate.
Julia Roberts was offered the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy before Sandra Bullock, who turned it down three times because of her concerns about playing the part of a devout Christian. During the first couple of weeks of shooting, Bullock thought her acting was so bad she considered dropping out. John Lee Hancock had worked so hard on the project she didn't want to ruin it. However, she didn't quit and ended up winning the Best Leading Actress Oscar for her performance.
Michael Oher was an experienced football player when he enrolled at Briarcrest. He developed into a premier left tackle, and was heavily recruited by top schools in the Southeastern Conference. Oher was less than pleased by the movie's depiction of him as passive, unskilled big guy who was only barely acquainted with football. Nor was he enamored by the Forrest Gump (1994)-like depiction of himself in the film.
When the Tuohys are riding home from S.J. Tuohy's school play, Sean Tuohy says the "quesadilla saved our ass". According to the book, Taco Bell sales were down at one time and Sean's stores were in some financial trouble. Then, Taco Bell introduced the quesadilla and sales increased and Sean's stores prospered.
Continuity
At Thanksgiving dinner, while the family watches football, Leigh Anne Tuohy is in the kitchen with the food. Leigh Anne is holding a glass of wine. In one shot, she starts to take a drink. In the next shot, the glass is nowhere near her lips.
As Miss Sue tells Michael the scary story of where the body parts are stored at the University of Tennessee, her Ole Miss cup changes positions several times without being touched.
When Leigh Anne discovers that Michael is leaving after staying 1 night, she is wearing a skinny cross around her neck. When she walks outside to stop him, her necklace is the round cross. In the next scene, it switches back to the skinny cross.
During the first football game Michael plays in, the scoreboard is shown to read VISITOR, but later in the game it is shown to read GUEST.
Leigh Anne wears a diamond cross throughout the movie. In some scenes, the cross changes from large to small diamonds between shots.
Factual errors
In one scene, the TV shows Tennessee beating Clemson. The footage is doctored footage from the 2003 Peach Bowl, which Clemson won 27-14 and never trailed.
The movie's introduction credits former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor with making the left tackle the second most important and highest paid position in the NFL after quarterback. That is an oversimplification, necessitated by the movie's focus on Michael Oher. The book divides its narrative evenly between the evolution of offensive tackles in the NFL and Oher's story. Among the top 10 highest paid players in 2008, only two were quarterbacks, and one, Flozell Adams, was a left tackle. As the NFL's first dominant blitzing linebacker, Taylor forced NFL coaches to adjust their formations, personnel, play calling, and schemes. However, left tackle was already a key position, and Taylor's impact went beyond one position. The right tackle position became just as critical to NFL teams due to a large number of superstar left-handed QBs, including Stephen Young and Mark Brunell. Oher started at right tackle during his 2009 rookie season for the Ravens, except when he filled in for injured left tackle Jared Gaither.
Michael and S.J. want to buy a newly released football video game, but at that time, it is spring. The Madden NFL games are always released in August and their NCAA counterparts are released in July.
When Michael's driver's license appears on-screen, his last name is printed before his first name. Tennessee driver's licenses show the driver's first, middle, and last names, in that order.
When Michael is taken to Ole Miss on his first day they are all wearing jackets. This would have been in August. You would never need a jacket in Mississippi in August.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Quinton Aaron, who played Michael Oher, is 6'8", but the real Michael Oher is 6'5". The 3 inches of "extra" size help the filmmakers dramatize (among other things) how out-of-place Oher looked at a school full of mostly average-sized white kids.
During Thanksgiving Dinner, the family is watching a football game with Ole Miss. There are very few college football games on Thanksgiving and Ole Miss did not play in one of them. However, this game is the Egg Bowl, a match-up between in-state rivals Ole Miss and Mississippi State, which was historically always played on Thanksgiving Day from 1901 through 2003. Beginning in 2004, the game was moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. Leigh Anne Tuohy mentions in the movie that Michael was about to turn 18, which occurred in May 2004, so the game they were watching would have been on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday 27 November 2003.
Revealing mistakes
In at least one closeup of Michael in his football uniform, his mouthpiece is hanging from his face mask upside-down compared to the way most players hang it (e.g. the guard would be facing down when he put it in his mouth instead of up). Also, the mouthpiece is clearly brand new and has not been shaped to fit Quinton Aaron's mouth.
When Leigh Anne invites Big Mike to stay for Thanksgiving dinner, all the trees in their yard are full of green leaves. In the following scenes when Leigh Anne takes Michael shopping, all the trees on the street and reflected in the windshield of her car have green leaves as in spring or summer. In Memphis in November, all of the trees would either be turned fall colors or would have already lost the majority of their leaves.
At the beginning of the scene when S.J. films Michael at football practice, an over-the-shoulder shot shows that the camcorder's screen is blank, indicating that the camera is off.
When Leigh Anne is driving to the laundry mat at the end of the movie to see Mike, the image through the glass shows her driving on the wrong side of the car.
Miscellaneous
The archway to the (fictional) Wingate Christian School attended by Oher has the words "With Men This Is Possible, With God All Things Are Possible" below the school name. This is apparently supposed to be a quote from the Bible, from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 26 (though no verse reference is on the sign). However, Matthew 19:26 actually says, "But Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is -impossible,- but with God all things are possible." (ESV) Since Jesus was talking about how to enter the kingdom of heaven at the time, the error changing "impossible" to "possible" is a pretty serious one.
Michael's chemistry paper that Leigh Anne examines contains numerous typos in the questions.
Anachronisms
Sean Tuohy uses Safari for Windows, which was not available until 2007.
In the office of the recruiting service when they guy hands Tom Lemming the DVD of Michael, if you look at the magazine that the DVD case is sitting on you will see a picture of Bryce Edward Brown in the Army All-American game. Bryce didn't sign with Tennessee until 2009 which is when he graduated and the film is supposed to be set in 2003-2004.
The car driven by Leigh Anne is a BMW 750LI. However, the BMW 750LI wasn't available until 2006, and the movie takes place in 2004. The '06- '08 models have a face-lift compared to the prior models.
In the very beginning when Michael Oher's friend's dad is first driving him to Wingate, it must be late 2003 or early 2004. As they drive past the lemonade stand, a Volkswagen EOS is visible, which wasn't introduced until late 2005 as a 2006 model.
Errors in geography
The film is set in Tennessee but was filmed in Georgia. A Georgia lottery sign can be seen in a few scenes at one of the stores.
Early in the movie, when Michael is riding in John Hamilton's car on their way from West Memphis to Wingate Christian School, a real estate sign with an area code 770 phone number can be seen through the car window. The phone number belongs to a real estate agent in the greater Atlanta area. (The phone number is 770-683-1800, which belongs to Josey Young & Brady Realty in Newnan, GA.)
The story takes place in Memphis, TN. When Michael Oher is with the NCAA representative, you can see Maggiano's Italian Restaraunt in the background. There is no Maggiano's in Memphis.
The movie is set in Memphis TN. but in one scene of a city Bus, the logo on the Bus is MATA, which stands for Metropolitan Atlanta Transit Authority. However, the bus system in Memphis is known as Memphis Area Transit Authority.
Leigh Anne gives Michael a warning and says she will drive up here...from Memphis she would be driving down here....
Plot holes
Written and road tests are required to get a driver license. Michael has difficulty reading, but no-one is seen reading it to him and he isn't seen taking a road test.
Character error
After they make the U-turn to pick up Michael, Sean asks, "Where to?" Leigh Anne points straight-ahead and says, "home". Home would have been behind them; they would have had to make another U-turn.
When coach Phil Fulmer finishes making his presentation to S. J. and Michael, he stands up and says C.J, instead of S.J.
On the History test paper, the question, "Where did the Battle of Waterloo take place?" has been answered (d) Germany, which has been ticked. This is incorrect, and the correct answer should have been (c) South of Brussels in Belgium.
The quote on the archway at the Christian School attended by Michael and S.J. is a misquote of Scripture. The second line ("With God all things are possible") is correct, but the first line should read "With Man this is impossible" not "With Man this is possible". The original context being Jesus' reply to his disciples when they realize how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, recorded in Matthew's gospel.
When Michael is tutored about the 1854 Charge of the Light Brigade (for an essay to boost his grade average), he remarks: "They're all gonna die, aren't they?"--and Tuohy nods, showing how an officer's wrong order resulted in fatalities. Many assume all 600 (actually 660 or so) light cavalrymen were killed. But in fact, 'only' 110-120 (maximum estimate: 136) died in that charge. Another 160+ were wounded. That still left some 400 riders who survived the event.