Blindside star wants to erase Hollywood movie with Super Bowl

HE has one of the most famous stories in sport, but this Super Bowl star wants to replace the reason Hollywood is so interested in him.

A YEAR before Ed Dickson became Michael Oher’s teammate with the Ravens, “The Blind Side’’ was released, earned $300 million at the box office, garnered a Best Picture nomination and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Sandra Bullock.

This was in 2009 and Dickson, like almost everyone else, not only saw the movie, but all but devoured it.

“I loved the movie,’’ Dickson, a Panthers tight end, told The Post on Tuesday.

“I thought it was a feel-good movie of the year. I loved the plot and everything.’’

And so, when he got to Baltimore in 2010 and Oher was already there as the starting left tackle, Dickson had to know: How much of “The Blind Side’’ was legit and how much of it was Hollywood?

“I really wanted to know when I first saw him was some of the stuff true,’’ Dickson said, “but I wasn’t going to go, ‘Is this true from the movie?’ When you get to know him, you can figure out what’s true and what’s not.’’

Nowadays, Dickson, Oher and the Panthers are all living a movie script, as their upstart 17-1 team takes on the Broncos Sunday in Super Bowl 50. They would not be here if Oher had not been signed to fill a huge void on the offensive line and then come up with the greatest season of his seven-year career.

Michael Oher’s Hollywood story

It is a week for the Panthers to tell their tales to the assembled media, but Oher’s already has been told — sort of. He has never embraced the portrayal of himself as a homeless and traumatised boy saved by an adoptive family — Bullock starred as Leigh Anne Touhy, his adoptive mother.

Mostly, Oher did not appreciate the movie narrative that he did not like football and the film, in his view, makes it seem as if “somebody else takes all the credit, like I didn’t do anything to get here.’’

His initial viewing of “The Blind Side’’ did not inspire him. “First reaction, I thought it was all right,’’ Oher said. “I would tell people that everybody has a story, mine just got told. Everybody probably has a worse story than I had. Mine just got told. I’m fine with that.”

Mostly, Oher shrugs and changes the subject when “The Blind Side’’ is mentioned. There is plenty more for him to discuss, as he’s been rejuvenated at age 29.

After five years with the Ravens, Oher prior to the 2014 season signed a four-year, $20 million deal with the Titans. He was so bad in his 11 starts — six sacks allowed — that he was cut after only one year. The Panthers were not going to bring back left tackle Byron Bell and franchise quarterback Cam Newton targeted his preferred replacement. He sent Oher a text that read: “I need you. I don’t want you, I need you.’’

The real Blindside.

Newton was working with some inside information. His brother, Cecil, was an offensive-line teammate of Oher’s with the Ravens.

“Need is you ‘need’ something,’’ Oher said.

“Want, we want you here but if you don’t come, it will still be OK. When you tell someone you need ’em and you must have them to get something done, it was a special moment. Knowing it’s Cam Newton right here that’s texting me. He’s telling me he needs me? It made my decision a lot easier to come to Carolina.’’

General manager Dave Gettleman signed Oher to a two-year, $7 million deal that was not hailed as smart. “I got killed on that one,’’ Gettleman said. It turned out to be brilliant. Oher played 98.4 per cent of the offensive snaps, allowed a career-low four sacks and was called for only three penalties all season.

Oher won a Super Bowl with the Ravens and has his sights set on another one, a journey he admits is never far from his thoughts.

“Every single day,’’ he said. “I pinch myself just being here, being in the Super Bowl and knowing the road I had to travel. Very tough. It’s been hard fought every day growing up. That’s why I work so hard, that’s why I get up early every day, try to be the first one in the facility. I love doing it because I know where I came from and it’s not somewhere I want to go back.’’

It is life imitating art imitating life. It is a story they turn into movies.

“Tell him,’’ Dickson said, “I want to be in this one.’’

Originally published as Blindside star wants to erase Hollywood movie with Super Bowl