Traditionally, the Hollywood biopic is reserved for people who are nearing the end of the road. The autumn of life, y’know? Or it comes long after their six feet deep. Some of the most popular subjects are your garden-variety famous folks—musicians like Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, politicians like Richard Nixon, actors like Joan Crawford (YIKES.)
I’ve always found it a bit odd when a movie comes out about someone who still has plenty of their life to live. Now for the rest of their time on earth, are they going to be concerned with living up to that silver screen standard? Keep building on the legend? Who knows. Pretty sure, Zuckerberg isn’t to hassled by it, but still. Which brings us to Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher.
Oher’s life was the basis for The Blind Side, which started as a Michael Lewis book then went on to become an award-winning 2009 movie of the same name. If you haven’t heard of it, welcome to earth! This was no Sunday afternoon, low-rent, made-for-TV snorefest. This was capital-H, HOLLYWOOD, man. Sandra Bullock won the Oscar for Best Actress. This means everyone on the planet is aware of this.
And so, when your life story is basically that movie and you’re playing in the Super Bowl, that means—even though all of this happened YEARS ago—you’re still going to be obliged to answer some questions about it while fighting the urge to have your eyes roll right out of your head in boredom.
This being the Super Bowl and all, forget actual football, the first three questions Oher got at media day was about the movie. As Greg Bishop points out in The New York Times:
Question No. 1: On the family that took him in when he was young, the main story line in the book: “I’ve got them coming to the game,” Oher said. “They’re still my family.”
Question No. 2: On his life being made into the film: “I’m tired of the movie,” Oher said. “I’m here to play football.”
Question No. 3: On if he would rather people considered him a football player: “Football is what got me here and the movie, it wasn’t me. I always knew how to play football growing up. It was different personalities, stuff like that. Playing football is what got me to this point.”
If anything somehow getting rid of all these annoying questions about The Blind Side could be extra motivation for Oher. If he adds a Super Bowl ring to his already amazing story, people will finally have something else to ask him about.
