This according to the LATimes, who says: Fox has just fast-tracked an adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game,” to be written and directed by John Lee Hancock (“A Perfect World,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil”). In “Blind Side,” Lewis uses the fascinating example of Michael Oher, a 300-plus-pound homeless black teenager whose widowed mother was a crack addict, as a case study with which to analyze the financial, cultural and ethnographic inner workings of football.
Oher was taken in by a wealthy evangelical white couple in Memphis, Tenn., and before long his size and agility made him the target of every college recruiter in the country (Oher is now building a distinguished pigskin career at the University of Mississippi). When the studio won a bidding war last October for the film rights to the just-published book, Lewis (“Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game,” “Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street”) had this to say of the Hollywood system:” It’s a process that’s mystifying to me,” he griped in an interview with Fortune, referring to stalled adaptations of his other books at Sony and Warner Bros. “A producer buys the book and then hires someone who knows nothing about the material to write the screenplay as if it’s an independent expertise that has nothing to do with the subject. And then for $1 million they write a bad screenplay, and the studio loses interest.” Hancock, an in-demand rewrite artist who directed Mike Rich’s real-life-inspired baseball screenplay, “The Rookie,” in 2002 and most recently co-wrote and directed the hugely underperforming “The Alamo” in 2004, has as good a shot as any to tackle the material. That said, let’s do some casting…

Martin Lawrence as Michael Oher. Michael tips the scales at over three bills. Martin ain’t afraid of no fat suit. And he could use a dramatic role under his belt. Will Smith would just ruin it (see: most of his other films)
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Whitney Houston as Michael’s mother. Widowed mom…crack addict…She was in “The Bodyguard.” Too easy.

Terrence Howard as “the conscientious coach/surrogate father figure in Michael’s life that helps him turn the corner and make a difference.” You’ll remember Terrence was AMAZING in “Hustle and Flow.” If not, go rent it.

Cedric The Entertainer as…well, anyone…he always seems to show up in movies like this. And what the hell kind of last name is “Entertainer,” anyway?

Bobcat Goldthwait as Ed Orgeron. Again, who could better capture the essence of Wild Boy Numero Uno than a Bobcat hopped up on a 12-pack of Tab cola?

Brian Dennehy as Roy “Tennstud” Adams. We have no idea what our good friend Roy would have to do with the Oher story, but Ron Jeremy was not available, and seriously, America, what would a movie about Memphis football be without Roy?





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