Author Michael Lewis penned a book of the same name that inspired the film, and spoke out about Oher’s lawsuit, blaming Hollywood, not the Tuohy family. Lewis told The Washington Post, “Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system. Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.” Lewis claims they first sold the option of the film to Fox for about $250,000, which he and the Tuohy’s split evenly (Oher was included in this division). Fox never made the film; instead, a small production company called Alcon backed the film (the CEO of Alcon was a neighbor of the Tuohy’s). They all agreed collectively, to not take a salary, but work off a profit share.
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Michael Lewis claims that they split the film’s profits, around $350,000 each. Lewis claims the Tuohy’s had every intention of sharing the profit among their family but Oher actually began to decline the checks (what?!). To Lewis’ knowledge, he thought that the family put Oher’s royalty checks from the film in a trust fund for his son. He also added that Oher called him in 2021 to ask about a possible collaboration for a speaking tour to make money. Reportedly, Lewis spoke to his agent about this, but nothing came of it. It seems like only bank statements could clear up this intense family drama…
