MovieChat Forums > Concussion (2015) Discussion > Dan Sullivan character - why so hostile?

Dan Sullivan character - why so hostile?


I didn't understand who the Dan Sullivan character was or his motivation. He worked under Cyril Wecht in the medical examiners office. He was always criticizing and barking at Dr. Omalu when he was performing an autopsy.

I couldn't figure out if he was another pathologist, or a technician, or some kind of administrative non-medical person in the autopsy area. He never seemed to show any respect or even civil behavior toward Dr. Omalu. As the Cyril Wecht character observes, "Dan hates you". Why? Why was he so hostile to Dr. Omalu? And why was he allowed to get away with such poor behavior?

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I was wondering the same thing.

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The guy was a serious A hole. I expected him to change and become more respectful as Will Smith made more successes in proving the brain damage but he was just an A hole the whole time.

I wonder if he was just a made up character. Yes this is supposed to be a "true story" but sometimes in movies based on true events there is some fiction if the writers want to add dramatic tension and every hero needs an A hole character to be a thorn in their sides I guess?

In ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ which is based on true events there was another inmate named "Wolf" who kept messing with Clint Eastwood and in the real story that never happened but it added to the excitement and dramatic tension.

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Omalu was pretty annoying to work with -- talking to the dead people he was autopsying, and so on. I think Sullivan was there to show that Omalu rubbed many people the wrong way even before the whole CTE issue came up. Omalu either lacks people skills, or because he was not from here, he didn't realize how he didn't fit in. If he had been more savvy, he might have been able to better handle what the NFL threw at him.

Sullivan told Omalu when he wanted to study many extra people to look for CTE, that Omalu would have to pay for all those extra tests himself. leading me to assume that Sullivan managed the lab and reported directly to Cyril Wecht. A lot of his protests were about Omalu wasting the lab's resources, and if he is the lab manager, it is quite appropriate for him to address that.

You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi

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I am sure he was very annoying to work with. Especially if one was at all concerned with efficiency and the tax-payer dollar. I loved the movie and the Omalu character. But I wouldn't have wanted to work with him, with all of the mumbo jumbo new age stuff, talking to the corpses and all, while there was a long list of other bodies that also needed attention. He probably should have been assigned to only those cases that were particularly difficult or important, not just one of several assistants. It was just sheer luck he got the Mike Webster case.

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It was just bad writing. We're supposed to believe that someone who works in a coroners office is uneasy and uncomfortable with a Dr performing ordered autopsy's, it makes zero sense. It was unnecessary and forced.

The writers, or director of the film, wanted us to think that everyone in the world was against Omalu, even his coworkers. And in a typical, cliche hero fashion, he prevailed anyway. Against the NFL, FBI, and his jerk co worker.

Fictional jerk character = bad/forced writing

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That too. Good points.

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He is the exact reason people say, "haters gonna hate!" Some people have nothing but hate in them and all it takes is for a person that they hate to be in their presence and their hate comes out!

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While Dr. Omalu was brilliant and did things the right way, I can see how he rubbed people the wrong way. Talking to the dead bodies, having special equipment used and costing the lab a lot of money in supplies as he discards the equipment after each one.

Also Danny seemed like he worked there for a while, and people don't really like change. Dr Omalu came in and did everything different, he probably didn't like that. Also he probably realized Dr Omalu was better at his job than Danny was, which can cause resentment.

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From historyvshollywood.com

"In researching the Concussion true story, we discovered that Omalu's coworker in the movie, Daniel Sullivan (Mike O'Malley), is a fictional character who opposes Omalu's unorthodox methods, including talking to cadavers (the real Omalu did that). Sullivan is also a voice for the Pittsburgh Steelers faithful, many of whom would oppose seeing one of their heroes, Mike Webster, cut open and dissected."

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I really don't understand how Omalu was annoying for talking to the dead. People talk to the dead all the time. That is not something that I find strange at all. People talk to lost relatives or even God. Not to get into religion but to me it is no different.

I get that whole budget thing though and how that would be annoying. I guess that is the major reason he was always getting angry at him. My boss is always going off about our spending and wastage as well.

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I can see how someone could find this type of behavior unprofessional. It would be that, and not the actual talking itself, that irks them. The fact that Omalu handled noticeably fewer cases than his colleagues, even if the results were good, might reinforce that impression.

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