And only fleshed out on screen by a man like Hancock. A passionate gridiron fan (and former high-school football player), he demonstrated a humane touch with real-life sports sagas when he directed Dennis Quaid in the title role of an overage pitcher in the much-loved 2002 baseball movie "The Rookie."
To Hancock, "the unusual mother-and-son story" of Leigh Anne assuming a mother-tiger role in Oher's life was "the absolute core of the book." He knew that if he could tap that core and still tell the story of the evolution of the left tackle and Michael's social, athletic and educational progress, he could make a movie that would be "unconventional and kind of great."
What continued to delight him about the material was that even the linear parts were unconventional. "This movie would be pretty boring if it were a story about northeastern bleeding-heart liberals who take a young underprivileged kid into their home," Hancock says.
FOR THE RECORD - A story in Friday's Movies section referred incorrectly to the school attended by Ravens rookie Michael Oher, whose story is told in the coming film "The Blind Side." He went to Briarcrest Christian School.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.
It would be stultifying, Hancock continues, "If it were about Southern Christians who start out in the first act highfalutin', then in the second act face up to their hypocrisy, then in the third act learn what it's really like to be a Christian. I've seen that movie - not interested."
To Hancock, "The Blind Side" is about naturally charitable people who, dumbfounding everyone, help bring a kid from a nowhere position academically to college.
Hancock comes from a football family. His dad coached high school football and played on the old Chicago Cardinals in the NFL; his brother Kevin was a Detroit Lion and Indianapolis Colt; his brother Joe played for Vanderbilt. Hancock promises "The Blind Side" will be a different kind of sports movie.
"There's no Big Game. Most sports movies you have the big championship game. But here Michael is playing in a private school league. How many times do you want to see him crush a skinny, 180-pound white boy? He does it once, you get it: He's good. And he's a left tackle; so yes, you want to shoot a play, but the movie is about that position. ... What's important is when he clicks."
Get a sneak peek at the season's most anticipated films, including 'New Moon' and 'Where the Wild Things Are.' PG 3
