Top 55 Quotes & Sayings by Thomas Haden Church

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Thomas Haden Church.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
Thomas Haden Church

Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After appearing in the 1990s sitcom Wings and playing the lead for two seasons in Ned & Stacey (1995–1997), Church became known for his film work, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways (2004), his role as the Marvel Comics villain Sandman in the superhero films Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), and his role of Lyle van de Groot in George of the Jungle (1997). He also made his directorial debut with Rolling Kansas (2003).

I enjoy doing press for something that I like, and I think the movie is very fun and charming and clever.
Their lives have been largely defined by failure and you would think the prospect of marriage, which is supposed to be bountiful and hopeful, it's just really another kind of tangential thing in his life.
Cary and I are working together on another movie, Charlotte's Web. — © Thomas Haden Church
Cary and I are working together on another movie, Charlotte's Web.
And there have certainly been movies I wanted to be in and milestones I wanted to surpass that did not happen.
As an actor I kind of do. I started out doing voice overs in the mid 80s when I was in grad school.
Children from like 8 and even up to the college age - Spider-Man appeals to a fairly broad demographic but, like I said, a mean age probably of 12 is a good mark - they process information so quickly and it's not because of attention deficit or short attention span.
When I moved to L.A. in 1989, the very first thing I did was this horrific pilot called To Protect And Surf.
But to this day I am convinced that the real reason we met was because Alexander is from Nebraska, and he was completely fascinated that I was about to go off and make a movie with Brando - perhaps the most famous Nebraskan of all.
I'm not so proud to think that anything is unworthy, and I don't think I was that way 10 years ago.
But I think once the word gets out that the movie is funny - funny is transcendent - it will traverse all demographic barriers if people embrace it as a funny movie.
I made a comfortable living for several years. I invested, and I protected myself, so I enjoy that freedom.
I certainly was an actor and then I drifted more towards writing and directing.
I love knowing that I'm not better than any other person on the planet.
He was using me. When he cast me in Sideways I was nothing but a vessel. — © Thomas Haden Church
He was using me. When he cast me in Sideways I was nothing but a vessel.
The title of the movie is open to interpretation.
I like to keep my private stuff pretty vague.
I would say 95% of the time, because you just can't remember your lines if you're drinking alcohol. I would say about 95% of the time it was grape juice or this fake wine, which was horrible.
But I'm a citizen of Texas and try to spend most of my time there.
Between Clive Owen winning at the Golden Globes and the British Academy announcing its nominations, of which Sideways received only one, I'm feeling pretty humbled these days.
To some extent I could identify with that because I kind of just made my money and got out.
It's one of those scenarios where no, I never imagined that I'd be directed in a love scene - not even a love scene because it's kind of a hard-core sex scene because it's kind of just purely played for this carnal venting.
I love going to the feed store and drinking coffee and talking about how much rain we need.
I kind of have a rededication in my life now to acting because I'm very fond of being in this movie.
But I certainly know a lot of people that existed at that level and are always kind of pining for more, always thinking that the next big break, the next opportunity, the big role are just around the corner of the next audition.
I believe in singularity in relationships because you've got to have trust on both sides.
But all actors go through the process, it's hit and miss, you have achievement and failure.
Last summer when we were preparing for the movie, I actually kind of wanted to stay fairly uninformed about it. As we went through the process that we do in the movie, I wanted to be a little wide-eyed.
But at the same time, if the right thing came along, I would do it in a second.
I did a series called Ned and Stacey for two years for Fox back in the 90s. I was writer on it as well as a producer, and it was very important to me that there were no contemporary references.
I invested, and I protected myself, so I enjoy that freedom.
Cows are a lot smarter across the board than bulls.
I would just turn into a giant pair of lips. "Oh God! There he is! It's Lip-Man!"
One that always stings is "Grow up." And it stings most when you have the suspicion that it is justified, that you have just done somethingchildish and you got nailed for it. It's probably been said to me a few times.
Principally, I'll give anything a chance, only because the greatest challenges are the ones that you never see coming.
There's moments that are very personal in The Divorce. There are moments that are sort of unwatchably vulgar or intimate or pathetic. I even had this conversation with my mom. My mom saw the pilot and she was like, "I just thought that some of it seemed nasty." I'm like, "Mom. You're from a whole different generation. And yeah. There's some nastiness that goes on."
I've never been married, and I've never been divorced. But I have had some very serious relationships. I was engaged twice. The way that those relationships ended, it was very very heartbreaking.
I've been an admirer of Helen Mirren for a long time. As I get older, I find myself admiring older women who have poise and elegance. — © Thomas Haden Church
I've been an admirer of Helen Mirren for a long time. As I get older, I find myself admiring older women who have poise and elegance.
When I landed in L.A. in early '89, William Morris decided to take me on to see if I could get any jobs. I was cast in a TV movie called Protected Surf, and made $30,000 in four weeks, and I decided I needed to take acting seriously, because I had never made that much money in a year, much less four weeks. That's when I decided I thought I could make a career out of it.
Look at the Native American culture. They revere the elders.
The Divorce isn't like the Da Vinci Code of TV shows. I'm not saying only a secret society is going to understand divorce. But it is a very specific show. And I don't know if you looked at a lot of the press. There's been some unpleasant reviews. And I'm not faulting those people but, they're really just not getting what we're trying to do. Which is to say, look. That may not be some people's taste. And that's fine.
I've been a writer longer than I've been an actor. I wrote short stories like crazy when I was in high school and college. I worked in advertising before I moved to L.A. to pursue acting.
Nothing is set up like a comedy bit. I did sitcoms for 10 years. Literally from 1989 to 1999. That's almost all I did. Whenever I got away from television I was like, "Phew, thank God that's over. I am never going back."
I would go into my three different sisters' rooms in the early-mid '70s and they had very specific different tastes in music. I specifically remember lying on my different sisters' bedroom floors and listening to their record collections. And "Starship Trooper" was one of my sister Nancy's favorite songs and favorite album. Music is so defining for me. In the late '70s and early '80s, I worked in radio. When I was in high school, I worked at two different radio stations.
I probably am. I think Paul Giamatti also said in an interview that I was "f--king crazy." I'm flattered by that. I want to be that guy who's nuts who makes people think.
Kissing's a good thing, man. It's the doorbell of intimacy.
I hate it when women fight aging with plastic surgery or fashion choices. There's this arrogant youth worship in our society.
I don't want my hair to be ridiculous. But in Texas I do wear a hat a lot, so I probably have hat-head more than I'm aware of. — © Thomas Haden Church
I don't want my hair to be ridiculous. But in Texas I do wear a hat a lot, so I probably have hat-head more than I'm aware of.
If you are truly fearless as a performer, than you don't fear kids or dogs.
The fact that I haven't been married might qualify me as belonging in the nutty category to a lot of women.
Sight is about what lies right in front of us. Vision is what lies ahead.
The Divorce, it's just like any performance that's given where I really just completely lost myself in that life.
Of course, anybody's who's 26 years old will probably say, "Of course the old guy would say that." But wait until you're 45 or 46 years old. See how you feel about it then.
I have a healthy sense of vanity. I like to look good for myself, which is what a lot of women say. I want to stay fit.
Any tendency to design for design's sake, to create a pattern within which the owner must live according to rules set by the designer, is headed for frustration, if not disaster.
Villains with a conscience have this sad realization of who they are, and the monster they've become — there's a sense of regret. So at the end of these movies there's a dramatic resonance that really stays with the audience.
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