1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:05,320 Speaker 1: Put on your dance and shift. 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 2: I've give me your best shot. As deputy editor of 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 2: The Daily Oz, Emma Gillespie with the skinny of what's 4 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 2: going on with the blind Side? 5 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: That's right. 6 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 2: This movie The blind Side two thousand and nine Oscar 7 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 2: winning film Soundra Bullock won Best act Actress for her performance. 8 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 2: It sounded too good to be true, perhaps it may 9 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 2: have been. Indeed. Michael Oa, who is the man at 10 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 2: the heart of this story, he's sort of the rags 11 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:37,159 Speaker 2: to riches, from homelessness to adoption with this family, the Twoey's, 12 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 2: he took him in. 13 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: I mean, just tell us a story of The Blindside 14 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: in case you haven't seen it. 15 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 2: So The Side, if you haven't seen it, great movie, 16 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 2: great movie. It's about this kid, Michael Oa, who is 17 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 2: in the foster system in Tennessee and he eventually becomes 18 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 2: homeless and parents of his friends help him and he's 19 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 2: at this Christian school that's where he meets Leanne and 20 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 2: Sewn Towey and he is this sort of NFL freak 21 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 2: so American football. He has this gift and this family 22 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,760 Speaker 2: takes him in, they adopt him. It's a really central 23 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 2: theme in the movie. They adopt him, and they sort 24 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 2: of helped facilitate him to receive all these college football 25 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 2: scholarship offers. It's a true story. Michael Lower, who's now 26 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 2: thirty seven, went on to play eight seasons in the NFL, 27 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 2: won a Super Bowl ring. Speaking of rings, and that's 28 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,279 Speaker 2: what was sold to the whole world. Last week, Michael 29 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 2: Lower filed legal proceedings in a Tennessee court to basically 30 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,320 Speaker 2: say that it was a lie. He wasn't adopted. 31 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: He's only just discovered this. 32 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 2: He has only just discovered this year that he was 33 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 2: tricked into what. He says that he was tricked into 34 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 2: signing adoption papers which were actually conservativeship And this is 35 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 2: the Britney Spears thing. Yes, so we've heard a lot 36 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:55,800 Speaker 2: about conservative ships in the last few years. Think of 37 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: them as kind of like a guardianship sort of a thing. 38 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:01,720 Speaker 2: But essentially they grant a person a court ordered sort 39 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 2: of full legal custody of another person's you know, decision 40 00:02:06,560 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 2: making powers, their negotiations, business deals, contracts, finances. All of 41 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 2: those powers have been held by the Twoey's since you know, 42 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 2: two thousand and four. 43 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 1: And so he says that they've ripped him off financially. Yeah. 44 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 2: So he says he was tricked into this conservativeship, that 45 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 2: he was never adopted, and that also he has not 46 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,640 Speaker 2: received any money made from the blind Side. This is 47 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 2: a movie that made three hundred and thirty US million dollars. 48 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 2: There's also a book before the film, and he says 49 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,720 Speaker 2: that he believed he was signing, you know, papers that 50 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 2: would facilitate the adoption process, but that what may have 51 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 2: happened is that he signed over the rights to his name, 52 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 2: his image, his life story. So he's not been paid 53 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 2: his life story rights. 54 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,119 Speaker 1: But what the family is the family is saying, well, 55 00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: because he was over eighteen, we couldn't adopt him. That 56 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: wasn't possible, so this was our only option. Yep. 57 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: So the Toos have defended that exactly as you say, Amanda, 58 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,560 Speaker 2: that they had to do this conservativeship arrangement in order 59 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 2: to help Michael go to Old Mississippi, the university that 60 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 2: they wanted him to go to, a huge part of 61 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 2: the film. Their whole family, they come from a long 62 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 2: line of Old miss Alma Maters, and that they had 63 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 2: to do this conservativeship. It's very gray and I haven't 64 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 2: been able to actually find out whether or not adoption 65 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 2: over eighteen was illegal in Tennessee back then. It's certainly 66 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 2: not illegal now. So you can do that, you can't 67 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 2: do it under Tennessee law. So that's a little bit confusing. 68 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 2: But then also interestingly, we've heard from the author of 69 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,720 Speaker 2: the book, this guy Michael Lewis, who brought the story 70 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 2: of the blind Side sort of to the mainstream in 71 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 2: the first place, and he said that who we should 72 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 2: really be mad at is the Hollywood system, because he 73 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 2: thinks that the studios didn't pay the family much money 74 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 2: to start with at all. So he reckons that maybe 75 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars US for the rights 76 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: paid to the tuy family, and that that was split 77 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 2: fifty to fifty between him, the author of the book, 78 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 2: and the family. And then the family claimed that they 79 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 2: split that shit evenly amongst their family, which included Michael Lower. 80 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 2: But I suppose you have to wonder if he's the 81 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 2: heart of the story and the main character and the 82 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 2: kid that's come from poverty and sort of been plucked 83 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 2: from obscurity by this well kid, was he entitled to more? 84 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 2: But he would have made a lot of money as 85 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 2: a football player, wouldn't he, Well, we assume he, Yes, 86 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,800 Speaker 2: he did, He definitely did. But I think the fact 87 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 2: that this other family has sort of platformed themselves as saviors, 88 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 2: and you know that he, you know, otherwise would have 89 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 2: spent his life in poverty until they came along and 90 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 2: found him. 91 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: And gave him some truth to that. 92 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 2: Well, he Michael Lower has sort of always been critical 93 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 2: of the film. He says that he felt like it 94 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 2: portrayed him as this dumb kid who never had academic 95 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 2: instruction or had never learned how to play football. But 96 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 2: he said that, you know, he knew about football. 97 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: Football's what got. 98 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 2: Him to the point of meeting the Tooyes, and that 99 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 2: he hadn't had a proper education. Yes, but when he 100 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 2: was given the Tooies didn't write the story. So they're 101 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 2: just going along, Well they did. 102 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: They've they sort of they've set this narrative up, haven't they. 103 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean they facilitated it all throughout the film. 104 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 2: The story would be, you know, with the Sandra Bullock movie, 105 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,680 Speaker 2: it's a great movie, but the real reality is kind 106 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 2: of boring. I mean, Leanne Tooey, who Sandra Bullock played, 107 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 2: she was very vocal throughout the promotion of that film. 108 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 2: She did lots of interviews alongside Sandra Bullock, even at 109 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,599 Speaker 2: the Oscars when Sandra Bullock's doing her acceptance. 110 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: She said, yeah, this is our story. 111 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, she sort of thanks the family and so had 112 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 2: Sandra feel about all of this? Well, we haven't heard 113 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 2: from Sandra. Her partner actually passed away last week, Ken 114 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 2: modon your own disease, so she's dealing with a whole 115 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 2: other thing. But there have been these ridiculous calls for her. 116 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 2: I think ridiculous for her to hand back her oscar. 117 00:05:58,720 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: And nothing to do. 118 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 2: That's what I think. Like they were to do a 119 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,280 Speaker 2: movie of say our radio show, for example, they would 120 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 2: have to embellish it a bit, you know, like sure 121 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 2: they could get Brad Pitt to play me. 122 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: That would be not much for stretch. But you know, 123 00:06:10,600 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: I was going to say, who are we casting? 124 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 2: Who's playing a man? 125 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:16,559 Speaker 1: I'm intrigued to know what Brendan thinks. Is Linda Hunter? 126 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:23,679 Speaker 1: You'd mentioned her. That's an eighty year old woman. Thank 127 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: you so much, t Lesbie. 128 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 2: You'll check her out at the Daily os. 129 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: Thank you for joining his m Thank you