Q&A: Thomas Haden Church

By Rebecca Winters

Thomas Haden Church's performance in Sideways, just released on DVD, won him an Oscar nomination and a role as the villain in 2007's Spiderman 3.

There's a shroud of secrecy around your Spidey 3 role. Let us in.

I had to sign a confidentiality thing. I will say this: he is a he.

So, you're not Catwoman?

No. But there's a franchise asimmerin' around Catman! Or maybe Thunderbaby. When I cry, I will emit thunder and lighting. I'll be swaddled in a diaper the entire shoot.

When Sideways came out, people compared you to your character, a has-been TV actor. Did that sting?

They didn't pry the lid off my coffin with the Sideways offer. I was busy living my life. I have a baby daughter. Acting wasn't a priority.

Why do you live in Texas?

I have two ranches, about 400 head of cattle. It's real. It's hands-on. It's an anchoring thing for me.

Among the many anchoring jobs you've held is roadkill collector.

We would drive along the highways of South Texas picking up dead animals. Once you've dry-heaved for the thousandth time in the back of a dump truck with dead dogs and raccoons, you do some soul searching about vocational choices that you will not be making later in life.

Did you think about that at the Oscars?

There were some moments of reflection. But the Oscar nomination is just something to build upon. Hopefully, it's the launch sequence.