Thomas Haden Church on Don McKay and Going Straight to Cable With Marlon Brando

It's quite an ensemble. How involved were you in the casting?

Very. Very. I mean, through those three or four years, actresses came in and out who were interested in playing Sonny, and for whatever reason, they wanted changes with the script. They wanted to be a producer so they would have more control. They wanted to be a producing partner. They had financiers that they wanted to bring in. For whatever reason, people came in and out. But ultimately, when Jim [Young] came on board and he brought the access to financing that he did, then it was like, "Who can we find that will address everybody's needs?" We had talked about Elisabeth a few years prior to that, and it wasn't the right thing at that time. But when it came back up and she was interested, I was like, "Absolutely." She was so perfect in terms of intelligence and vulnerability. She had to age-reasonable, but also attractive. Someone immediately overwhelming romantically. But we really needed her to be age appropriate. They needed to have gone to high school together; they were high-school sweethearts. Actresses would come up, and they were 10 years younger or -- as flattering as it was at times -- 15 years younger. And I said, "No. It's not the right thing."

So M. Emmet Walsh was attached before that, and Keith David and James Rebhorn, and then we got Pruitt Taylor Vince. But the crowning jewel was to get Melissa Leo, who was getting a lot of momentum off of Frozen River. Melissa read it, wanted to do it, she was available, and then it was like, "Bam!" We had the actors.

I know this is kind of random, but did you write your bio in the press notes?

Part of it. You can probably get the part that I wrote. I think it's the last paragraph. [ED: Of Church's writing-directing effort Rolling Kansas, it's written: "Acclaimed by no one, it now comfortably resides on Comedy Central."]

You also cite the "straight-to-cable Free Money, opposite the brilliant and bizarre Marlon Brando." Any stories?

Oh, God. I could take up a whole evening of your time. So I did this movie called Free Money; I think Starz bought it. It was released overseas. In fact, I have photograph. A buddy of mine shot a picture -- this was '99, I think -- of a theater marquee in Milan. It's all in Italian, of course, except for our names, which were Marlon Brando, Charlie Sheen and Thomas Haden Church. And then Free Money in Italian. But I have many stories about him, because we shot together for 10 weeks in Quebec. And I really thought about him a lot when he passed away; he was such an avuncular presence at that point in my career.

Doing that movie with Charlie and I, every now and then he would want to have these sort of impromptu little kind of script meetings. You would be summoned to his trailer at lunchtime. This happened a few times. He would be lying down resting his eyes. And you would come in, say hi to his assistant, and she would leave. And Marlon would just want you to sit down next to him. He would hold your hand. He would physically want to have contact with you. But he would never open his eyes, never move. He would just be lying on the couch. In fact, the chair would already be there. And he would want you to sit down, and he would hold your hand, and he would just want to talk about whatever it was we were shooting. He would just want to know how I was feeling, and how he was feeling. It was just a very, very personal connection with Charlie and myself. Unfortunately the movie never -- I thought -- came to its deserved fruition, which was some sort of critical notice for his performance. I thought he was very good in the movie. It's a very unusual movie. It was made by French Canadian filmmakers, but Mira Sorvino is in it, Donald Sutherland is in it, David Arquette is in it. Martin Sheen has a tiny cameo at the end of the movie. It's a very unusual little movie, but it just didn't get a theatrical release in the States. But that happens.

In retrospect, what's your impression of the rough response to All About Steve -- particularly considering Sandra Bullock's dual Razzie/Oscar win?

Oh, Sandy had such an amazing year. Unfortunately, it's taken a downturn here in the last month or so. She's a friend of mine, and she goes into everything with such dedication and such a vital spirit. She's really unsinkable. And she goes after these movies -- The Proposal, Steve, Blind Side... She really had no idea what was going to happen with The Blind Side. When we were promoting All About Steve, she kept referring to it as her "little movie" -- this little movie they did. And I said, "What is the deal with that movie?" And she said, "Oh, you know, it's about race, it's about football, and I don't know if it's ever going to find an audience. Most of the people in it, nobody knows who they really are. It's a very small story." And lo and behold, the movie does $240 million domestic and she wins the Academy Award.

I adore Sandy. She's true to herself. And Steve just fell in between. Critics largely hated it. It did OK at the box office; like $35 million? We made it for quite a bit less than that. It was just a little movie, and her performance... I thought that she was kind of unfairly attacked for her performance, because I thought it was fearless. Ultimately Sandy is an actor, and she takes chances She took a chance on Blind Side! You know? Putting on some weight, and that hair and that accent, and being such a straightforward Christian conservative zealot who takes a chance on this kid? Let's face it: Critics could have gone after her for that movie, but they chose to embrace it. And deservedly so. Sandy was terrific in it. I voted for her.

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