'Blind Side' star Sandra Bullock nearly turned down Oscar-winning role

Sandra Bullock originally believed the role as Leigh Anne Tuohy would be too 'schmaltzy and soft'

'Blind Side' actor Quinton Aaron asks critics to leave Sandra Bullock alone

Quinton Aaron was not happy about individuals calling for his co-star Sandra Bullock's Academy Award to be rescinded, now that drama is being unearthed in the press about the family that inspired the movie "The Blind Side."

Sandra Bullock was reluctant to take on the role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side," because she wasn't sold on the script.

In a resurfaced 2009 interview, Bullock shared that after being presented with the role, she believed the script was too "schmaltzy and soft."

"I didn’t trust it," she told Entertainment Weekly at the time.

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sandra Bullock nearly passed on the role as Leigh Anne Tuohy in "The Blind Side." (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side." (Ralph Nelson/©Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection)

Bullock portrayed Michael Oher's adoptive mother in the film. The movie was inspired by the real-life story of a Tennessee family who took in and adopted Oher, who would later have a career in the National Football League (NFL).

‘BLIND SIDE’ ACTOR DEFENDS SANDRA BULLOCK AMID CALLS FOR HER TO LOSE HER OSCAR: ‘STAY HOME, SIT DOWN, GET A JOB’

Bullock explained to the outlet that when she met Tuohy, "Leigh Anne scared me from the minute she opened the door." 

Bullock continued, "I was sitting in a chair in her house with my little hands folded in my lap. I couldn't say anything."

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sandra Bullock with Leigh Anne Tuohy at "The Blind Side" benefit premiere in 2009. (Skip Bolen/WireImage)

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy in New Orleans, 2013. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

The actress recalled Tuohy taking "a little hand pistol out of her glove compartment" and telling her, "Y'all just need to carry one of these."

Bullock said of Leigh Anne: "If you're her friend, she would stop at nothing to get done what she needed to get done for you. If you're her enemy, forget about it - you're going to wish you were dead."

EX-NFL PLAYER MICHAEL OHER, INSPIRATION OF 'THE BLIND SIDE,' SAYS HE WAS NEVER ADOPTED BY FAMILY

Tuohy was pleased with Bullock's portray in the award-winning film, telling the outlet in 2009 that she did "a good job."

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sandra Bullock received multiple awards for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Tuohy in the film "The Blind Side," about former NFL player Michael Oher. (Getty Images)

"And if she'd done a bad job, I'd have told you in a second - I'm all about being honest," Tuohy added.

Bullock won an Oscar in the best actress category for her role in "The Blind Side" in 2010. The film also received an Oscar nod for best motion picture of the Year.

"People who do what I do don't do award-winning films," Bullock told the outlet at the time. "Which is kind of a relief, because you don't have to go to that next step when it comes to that awards season thing."

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for best actress in 2010 for her role in "The Blind Side." (Dan MacMedan/WireImage/Getty Images)

Bullock's interview has resurfaced on the heels of Oher's controversy with the Tuohy family.

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Over the past week, the illusion of "The Blind Side" has been shattered after Oher accused the Tuohy family of never actually adopting him and forcing him into a conservatorship for their monetary benefit. The Tuohys say that Oher previously tried to shake them down for $15 million

Given the movie's resurgence in the news, some people have questioned whether Bullock's Oscar should be revoked, a notion that Quinton Aaron, who portrayed Oher in the movie, disagrees with.

WATCH: QUINTON AARON ASKS CRITICS TO LEAVE SANDRA BULLOCK ALONE

blind side star sandra bullock nearly turned down oscar winning role

"There's a lot of hate being spread around nowadays. And there's you know, someone asked me, there's people saying things that, ‘Oh maybe you should strip Sandra of her title . . . her Oscar.’ I'm like, ‘For what?'" Aaron told Fox News Digital.

"There's nothing that says she had anything to do with this. She was an actress who got hired to do a job, and she did it so well that she was rewarded for it. Why would you take that reward just because of what's going on today, 14 years later?"

Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.

Janelle Ash is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital.

Authored by Janelle Ash via FoxNews August 18th 2023