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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Church’s career is moving forward again with ‘Sideways’


Thomas Haden Church
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Jake Coyle Associated Press

In the film “Sideways,” Jack, an out-of-work actor, explains to his friend: “There are things I have to do that you don’t understand. You understand wine and literature and movies … but you don’t understand my plight.”

The “plight” of Jack, played by Thomas Haden Church, is a prenuptial romp during a wine-tasting trip before his wedding.

Like the character he plays, Church is most famous for his work on older TV shows. He’s probably most recognized as the guy who played Lowell, the deadpan mechanic in the NBC sitcom “Wings” (1990-97), before leaving to co-star opposite Debra Messing in the Fox series “Ned and Stacey” (1995-97).

But with “Wings” long behind him, Church is finally taking flight.

Nominated for a Golden Globe tonight, Church has already been honored by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for best supporting actor and appears a lock for an Academy Award nomination.

Church, 43, says he chose to do other things after the two TV series “because I had made enough money to be secure. I think in some way I was moving away from acting. By circumstance, you just kind of wave goodbye.”

The Texas native started out as a radio disc jockey and voice-over announcer, a fitting occupation given his deep, animated voice. He can still mock-announce the taglines of a few old radio stations.

After catching the acting bug in an independent movie, Church moved to Los Angeles and in 1990 was cast on “Wings.” Along with “Ned and Stacey,” he co-starred in the two “George of the Jungle” movies, which he did to make a few good flicks for the kids and “for a chunk of change.”

While mixing in less memorable appearances in films, Church wrote and directed his first movie, “Rolling Kansas,” a comedy about a road trip in search of a marijuana forest. It played at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival but was not picked up for theatrical distribution.

For the last few years, he has spent less time in Hollywood, living with his wife and children on their Texas cattle ranch.

Enter Payne. The director had been impressed by Church in auditions for his last two films: “Election” and “About Schmidt.” He was close for the part in “Schmidt,” but lost out to Dermot Mulroney in the role of Kathy Bates‘ brother.

For the character of Jack in “Sideways,” Payne thought about casting a big-name actor but didn’t think the audience would buy a movie star playing a C-lister.

“He says in the movie, ‘I used to be in a couple of TV series, I write right now, I do mostly commercials,’ ” says Payne. “That’s kind of what Tom has been doing recently.”

So will “Sideways” propel Church, who also made a cameo appearance in Adam Sandler‘s “Spanglish,” back into acting full time?

“I’ve been offered several movies since Toronto (Film Festival) but I didn’t want to do any of them,” he says. “If this is the last thing, that would be all right. I have no problem with ‘Sideways’ as the movie I become known for.”

The birthday bunch

Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 62. Country singer Jim Stafford is 61. Director John Carpenter is 57. Actress-dancer Debbie Allen is 55. Singer Sade is 46. Actor David Chokachi (“Baywatch”) is 37. Actor Richard T. Jones (“Judging Amy”) is 33. Model Kate Moss is 31.