thomas haden church Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was slightly disappointed with the initial casting of John Carter of Mars, but as Andrew Stanton keeps bringing the wonderful with every addition to the roster, I just have to trust him when it comes to his choice of Taylor Kitsch. But Stanton is sending more impressive talent to Mars, as according to The Hollywood Reporter, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, and Mark Strong have joined the cast.

Purefoy will be playing Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the grand flagship of Helium. Carter meets him in the prisons of Warhoon, and they're forced to battle in a gladitorial match. They become allies as only former gladiators can, and Kan assists him on his quest to save Mars / Barsoom. I found it difficult to picture the secondary characters in Princess of Mars, so I feel lame in saying "Purefoy is perfect as Kan!" but he'll fit the part of a seasoned naval captain. He'll be quite dashing, even. (Actually, I think Purefoy would have made a good Carter.)

Church will be playing Tal Hajus, who THR calls "a vicious Thark warrior who is determined to become king." In the books, he's a Jabba the Hut type who lusts after Princess Dejah Thoris, and is happily ensconced as a leader, so this might be one of the first big changes you'll see in the story. It would probably make things a lot more interesting to have Church play him as a capable bastard than a slobby wreck.

Read more over at SciFi Squad

Sandra Bullock may yet be one of our great living movie stars, capable of stealing just about any scene from any other actor. If only she could just find her place. Her role as the woman who winds up driving the bus in Speed was the breakout performance of a lifetime. In one scene, the bus approaches a lady crossing the street pushing a baby carriage. There's nothing anyone can do, so Sandra just screams and covers her eyes. The baby carriage goes flying, and -- not a baby -- but empty cans go flying and rattling all over, with the angry woman shaking her fist at the departing bus. Keanu Reeves tries to calm Sandra down by explaining that it was just cans. Her hysteria lasts a few more seconds, but it's so over-the-top utterly charming that Keanu can't help but smile at her. I've always suspected that that was a genuine smile from Keanu, not in character, and that director Jan de Bont just left it in.

After that she starred in While You Were Sleeping (1995), an above average Hollywood romantic comedy that made a nice profit. From there Bullock found herself locked in a struggle with her own career. She was perfect for romantic comedy, and whenever she made one, it was a hit, up to and including this past summer's The Proposal. The trouble is, it seems, that Bullock doesn't really want to make romantic comedies, but whenever she tries anything else -- like her great performance as Harper Lee in Infamous (2006) -- no one notices. She even became her own producer several years back in an effort to grab the steering wheel of her own career, but she's wrestling with a much older problem. It's called typecasting. Nobody ever wanted to see Charlie Chaplin make serious movies, nor did anyone ever want to see John Wayne play meek and mild-mannered.

When word about Easy A, otherwise known as The Scarlet Letter hits high school, it didn't sound like the most desirable or charming comedy -- a young woman pretends she's promiscuous to get ahead. (yay) But now ... Well, now there's a killer cast merged with a plot summary that could easily make this a must-see film.

Variety reports that the comedy will, more specifically, follow a high school girl (Emma Stone) who, "after being ostracized by a false rumor she's loose, uses the rumor mill to her advantage, pitting puritanical students and teachers against their liberal counterparts." And who will some of these people be? Oh, just Lisa Kudrow, Alyson Michalka, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Penn Badgley, Cam Gigandet, Malcolm McDowell, and Daniel Bird. How's that for a supporting cast? The fact that this is a teen comedy and not some star-ridden ensemble drama makes the roster all the more impressive.

Production kicks off on June 9, and hopefully that means we'll get to see how it all turns out sooner rather than later. But for now -- who are the puritans, and who are the lascivious liberals? Any guesses?

Austin was celebrating film this week before the SXSW crowds even arrived. On Thursday night, Austin Film Society held its ninth annual Texas Film Hall of Fame awards gala at Austin Studios, honoring Texans and "honorary Texans" in the film industry. It's a fundraising event for filmmaker grants and educational programs, and attire ranges from the glitziest cocktail dresses to blue jeans and cowboy boots. Thomas Haden Church emceed the ceremony, revealing surprising depths of bizarre-yet-enjoyable humor. Really, I think someone should consider him to host the Oscars next year, although I don't know what his singing and dancing talents might be.

Thirteen and Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, shown above, received the Ann Richards award for someone in film who "who breaks barriers and forges new creative paths." Her award was presented by Brendan Fraser. The Star of Texas award for an exceptional film made in Texas went to Rushmore, which was filmed in Houst -- Luke Wilson accepted the award. Linda Gray, who nearly goosed Thomas Haden Church onstage, inducted her Dallas co-star Larry Hagman into the Hall of Fame. Keith Carradine inducted Powers Boothe. Austin filmmaker Richard Linklater shared a tribute to Texas playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote, a Hall of Famer who died earlier this year. And Dennis Quaid presented the Tom Mix Honorary Texan award to his The Alamo co-star Billy Bob Thornton, who explained to us how he was more of a real Texan than an honorary one, anyway.

We've got photos of the event's honorees in the gallery below (as well as a few other familiar-looking attendees); check 'em out.

It appears that the only way for Sandra Bullock to make us grateful for her merely tepid rom-com fare (see: the trailer for this summer's The Proposal) was to offer something worse in comparison. As such, here's a trailer (watch below or over on Yahoo) for this spring's All About Steve, in which her bumbling Mary falls for eponymous cameraman Bradley Cooper -- despite indications that his interests fall elsewhere.

What Steve doesn't seem to understand is that Mary appears to be... um, well, how you say, special.

By which I mean mentally deficient.

Oh, how she loves her red boots and drives through hurricanes after one-night stands and snickers at her own jokes and has hair like a Pomeranian and splits Moon Pies with strangers and falls down gaping holes in the ground while anchor Thomas Haden Church reports nearby -- isn't that all just melon-farmin' adorable?!? No wonder this puppy's attached to Bride Wars this weekend.

Oh, wait -- I'm actually being informed that her character is merely 'quirky' and 'eccentric'. Go figure.

All About Steve (which has no discernable connection to Fox's own 1950 classic, All About Eve) is opening on March 6th, 2009, and I suddenly understand why the studio is so desperate to get Watchmen bumped back.

Once you get a taste of Smart People, deal with Eddie Murphy's Nowhereland, take on a stalkerific Sandra Bullock, and then steal Kate Hudson's work, it's time to get into some dark drama.

Variety reports that Thomas Haden Church has signed on to star in a new indie film called Don McKay, with the likes of Elisabeth Shue, Melissa Leo, M. Emmet Walsh, and Keith David. Coming from writer/director Jake Goldberger and shielded by a Screen Actors Guild waiver, the $5 million project just started production in Boston. The film focuses on a man who leaves his hometown after a tragedy forces him to do so. Twenty-five years later, he comes back when he hears that "his long-lost love is dying." Not surprisingly, his return spins "a web of confusion, deceit, and murder." Old secrets never die in the movie world.

Church says that it's a passion project that he's been trying to develop with Goldberger since Sideways. Aside from the confusion that it should evoke from those into Canadian poetry, this sounds like an interesting project -- especially with this cast.

Comedies don't have an obligation to be particularly insightful, but you'd think an indie aimed at an adult audience would have something to say about its characters. Smart People stars Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, and Thomas Haden Church; the cast and the multitude of laughs scored at the expense of easy targets might justify a rental, though I liked it much less after I started thinking about it. I'm in the minority -- James Rocchi expressed all kinds of love in his review. The DVD, out on Tuesday, includes an audio commentary by director Noam Murro and writer Jude Poirier, deleted scenes, bloopers / outtakes, and "the smartest people," which I'm guessing is a "making of" feature. It's also out on Blu-ray.

Also out on Tuesday, How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer has been described as "a comedy about three generations of Mexican-American women enjoying their sexuality." I heard all kinds of good things about it when it had some festival play a few seasons ago. America Ferrera, Elizabeth Peña, and Lucy Gallardo star. The DVD looks bare bones, but distributor Maya Entertainment has more about the film on their site.

An appealing romantic comedy set in and around a citrus grove in Sicily, The Orange Thief (pictured) played several film festivals, including Woodstock and AFI Dallas, and is now out on DVD. I'm not going to claim that this low-key charmer is some kind of lost classic, but it's amusing, looks gorgeous, and has the benefit of an incredibly restful, bucolic setting, which make it worth a rental. The DVD from Lightyear appears to feature only the movie.

Oh, Lowell, when will you find true love? To me, Thomas Haden Church will always be Lowell, the lovable mechanic from the 90s sitcom Wings, but most movie fans are probably more familiar with his Academy Award-nominated role as Jack, the unfaithful, somewhat sleazy buddy of wine lover Paul Giamatti in Alexander Payne's Sideways. More recently, he became a giant, somewhat bewildered pile of sand in Spider-Man 3. (Sorry, I never quite understood his character in the movie.) Now he's about to star with the adorable, bubbly Kate Hudson -- but it's not the kind of light romantic pairing you might expect.

According to Variety, Church will play Hudson's husband in Big Eyes, a biopic that will be directed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, based on their script. The film will dramatize events in the lives of Walter and Margaret Keane. For many years, Walter reportedly took credit for artwork that his wife had painted. The artwork became quite popular; eventually, though, Margaret sued Walter in order to regain credit, and evidently the lawsuit and trial will be key components in the film.

Whether you find the artwork to be creepy, as Christopher Campbell did, or worthy of museums and one-artist shows (check out the list at Margaret Keane's official site), I think the film stands a good chance of being quite dramatic, especially with the addition of Church. He can be simultaneously charming and sleazy, as he proved in Sideways, so I expect fireworks and sparks to fly when the film is released.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive final poster for the film Smart People (click on the image for a larger version), starring Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page and Thomas Haden Church. Smart People first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January where our own James Rocchi called it "so well-made, so well-acted and so impressively (for lack of a better word) smart that anyone who seeks it out will find something to admire and enjoy in its craft and heart." Here, Noam Murro makes his feature directorial debut with a story that follows a widowed professor (Quaid) who's life takes an unexpected turn when his adopted brother (Church) shows up for a visit. For more on Smart People, feel free to check out our Sundance audio interview with Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid and Thomas Haden Church.

Smart People arrives in theaters on April 11.

In one of Smart People's many funny (yet real) scenes, several beers have loosened the inhibitions and tongue of bright, highly motivated teen Vanessa Wetherhold (Ellen Page). As she staggers out of the bathroom, she pauses to ask a bottle-blonde, denim-clad woman "How's it feel to be stupid?" The woman snaps back: "How's it feel to eat lunch alone every day?" Vanessa's drunk enough to be honest: "It f***in' sucks." And that scene, in a nutshell, is what Smart People is about -- how it's one thing to be bright and aware and clever and perceptive, but it also sucks to eat lunch alone. Vanessa's dad Lawrence (Dennis Quaid) is a burly, bearded professor in the English department at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University - sluggish and surly and sleepwalking through his days. It's established -- carefully and well -- that Lawrence lost his wife not that long ago. His son James (Ashton Holmes) is attending Carnegie; his daughter Vanessa busies herself as Lawrence's right hand woman -- preparing meals, thinking of new titles for his book, advising him on office politics. This has two advantages for Vanessa; she gets to help her dad with his problems, and it keeps her too busy to think about her own.

The Wetherholds don't have much of a life, but at least it has some order to it -- order that's disrupted by the arrival of Chuck (Thomas Haden Church), Lawrence's adopted brother. Chuck is a slow-motion wreck of a man, a financial and professional failure, but he knows things his brainy brother and niece don't. Chuck wants to crash with Lawrence for a while, but Lawrence isn't very interested in that; when Lawrence has a seizure that means his driving license is revoked for six months, Chuck leaps in that window of opportunity headfirst. Chuck, by his very presence, destroys the status quo at the Wetherhold home. What we come to grasp is that maybe that status quo needs destruction.