Blind Side Subject: 'It's Not True That I Was That Idiotic When I Started'

Michael Lewis, the journalist whose books Moneyball and The Blind Side have made for some the most high-profile adaptations (or prospective adaptations, anyway) of the last year, had a bit of news about each to pass along to Bloomberg in a recent interview about his new book The Big Short. First of all, Moneyball appears to be shooting in June with Brad Pitt still on as Billy Beane, presumably with Bennett Miller directing a script reworked by Aaron Sorkin. So there's that. But what preceded that was even more revealing -- and probably not all that surprising to even the most casual football follower.

While it is true that Michael Oher went from homeless teen to superstar NFL left tackle with the aid of the Tuohy family, that whole part about him being something of an oafish, barely literate, sad-eyed ghetto kid (played by Quintin Aaron) reborn as a sort of gridiron savant might have been stretching the truth a bit. Or so said Lewis:

Michael liked the book, but when the movie came out he was just starting his rookie year, and I think he was hazed constantly in the trenches. So he refused to go see it, he didn't go to any of the premieres, he didn't come to the Oscars -- he didn't identify himself with it.

Since the movie came out, the one thing I've heard from him is, "It's not true that I was that idiotic when I started." They took surprisingly few liberties, but the few they took really bothered him.

And perhaps as such, no strained sympathy gestures to Sandra Bullock are to be found here. Smart man.

· Michael Lewis Slams Bonuses, Fuld, Hails Regulation: Interview [Bloomberg]