LOS ANGELES ? Sandra Bullock kept turning down the feisty mom role in ?The Blind Side? that eventually led to her first-ever Oscar nomination and possibly, her first Academy Best Actress award come Sunday, March 7.

If indeed Sandra triumphs over Meryl Streep, her reported strongest rival for the Best Actress statuette, she will probably thank director John Lee Hancock for his persistence. In this interview, Sandra revealed that John Lee didn?t stop until he finally convinced her to play Leigh Anne Tuohy, a real life mother in ?The Blind Side,? which is based on a book of the same title by Michael Lewis. The 2006 bestseller tackles the life of Michael Oher, who rose from anonymity to a left tackle position in an NFL team.

The movie chooses to stress how Michael (played by Quinton Aaron), a homeless and traumatized boy, became a pro football player with the help of a rich, no-nonsense Christian Southern woman (Sandra) and her family who adopts him.

Sandra herself is enjoying helping raise the three kids of husband Jesse James, former host of the TV show ?Monster Garage,? who has described himself as ?glorified welder? but is more a jack-of-all-trades. He makes custom bikes, builds cars and designs a line of work clothes, among other things.

Sandra and Jesse have been taking care of his daughter, Sunny, 6, while her biological mother, Janine Lindemulder, is restricted to making contact through phone calls. The couple also share their home with Jesse?s two kids, Chandler, 15, and Jesse Jr., 12, from another previous marriage.

The actress denied that she is involved in the custody battle over Sunny. ?That?s been the media (speculation),? she said. ?I am not involved in it. The only thing that?s important is that a child is in a safe and protected home. That?s our focus and that?s it. Most of what you read is just tabloid. The only person hurt is the child.?

Were you involved in the development of the script?

I had absolutely no involvement in the development of this wonderful story. I read the script. I kept saying no to it because I didn?t know how to pull off this woman. I?d never met, known, seen any person that I could compare her to. The director, John Lee Hancock, couldn?t explain Leigh Anne Tuohy properly so I assumed he was lying and hiding something.

He said, ?You just need to meet the woman.? So we went to Memphis and I met Leigh Anne. From that moment, I fully understood why he couldn?t explain Leigh Anne to me because there?s nobody like her and her energy. The minute you walk in her house, you?re afraid of her but for the right reasons. She?s a determined Mama Bear who protects her cubs. She has blinders on when she wants to get something done. So I said, ?All right, let?s tackle it.? I wanted to do it for that family and there was a lot of pressure on that.

You?re a strong woman yourself?

I thought I was strong until I met Leigh Anne. She scared the crap out of me while we were driving to go up to Ole Miss (University of Mississippi). I hadn?t planned to go to Ole Miss that day but I was in her car and we were going there, whether I liked it or not. She pulled out her little gloves from the glove compartment and from one glove, a gun dropped. I was like, ?Oh my God, she?s pulling out a gun.? I?m comfortable around guns but I just didn?t expect a gun that small to come out of the dainty Prada glove. She has a way of going through life that is very different from my way. I love it because she gets so much done. She does it with a power that I don?t think I?ll ever have. She?s fearless and she doesn?t care who gets in her way.

We made all the real coaches in the story come one day. They were scared because I looked like Leigh Anne. Then her husband showed up and he didn?t like the fact that there were two Leigh Annes in the room. We scared him, too, but all the coaches admitted they were deathly afraid of Leigh Anne because when she comes in, she?ll walk right in the middle of a field during a practice. I go, ?Who does that?? I?m too respectful. She?s not. The coaches had this look of fear. They?re big, strong men but you bring up Leigh Anne?s name and they kind of swallow a little hard. She has an energy that I could never have.

There are many contradictions in Leigh Anne?s life. How much of the script was based on reality?

Your question is exactly why I could not put my finger on her. I realized I wanted something more general that fits in a box. She doesn?t. She is a walking contradiction. Why does she dress like that? I realized I was passing judgment. I was assuming someone should look like this because I always assumed they look that way. Everything I wore, from my makeup to my nail polish to the clothes, I would consult and e-mail her. I would say, ?What does your nightgown look like? What nail polish do you use?? It would annoy her to no end but I said, ?I want to figure out how to get to where you are.?

So she was very open about her closet and those kinds of things. Everything you see is 85 percent Leigh Anne because I figured I need to tone her down just a little bit to make people believe that this person exists. She?s still bigger than life at 85 percent.

Are you also bossy in real life?

I?m very passive with an evil heart (laughter). Passive-aggressive gets you a lot. No. I try to be a good person. Most try to be good people. I?m a little organized and manic about wanting everything planned but I know nothing ever goes according to plan. I don?t learn my lesson and loosen up there. So I just try and be a good person. It?s easy to get selfish, crabby and talk down to people, be jealous of what someone else has. I just try to focus on being happy with what I?ve got.

This movie inspires people to become foster parents.

Regarding foster children, Jesse and I would do it in a heartbeat. My husband just met with these three extraordinary foster children. He was like, ?I want to show them what the world is, the shop and what they can do.? I realized he was talking about girls because why can?t girls do these wonderful things? He goes, ?The best welders in the world are girls.? I know we all like our homes and we are selfish with stuff but what good is our stuff? Your house always feel better when it?s full of people sharing your stuff and enjoying it. It?s better than you hoarding and being selfish with it.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com.