THOMAS HADEN CHURCH TALKS SANDMAN
Sun, Jan 21, 2007
Spider-Man 3 villain Sandman is being played by Academy Award nominated actor Thomas Haden Church. Church recently spoke with the Whittier Daily News about the impact of taking on such an iconic role in one of the biggest franchise in film history. “I thought I heard my 2-year-old daughter say, ‘Spider-Man, Spider-Man,’ the other day,” says Church. “Turns out she was asking for ‘vitamin, vitamin.’ My fianc?e and I were conjoined in a moment of relief. We don’t want her to be too much into papa’s work.”
In preparing for the role of Flint Marko, aka Sandman, Church looked to another Hollywood icon for inspiration. “The more research I did into the character, the more I thought about Lon Chaney Jr., the way he was, his presence in movies,” Church says. ”Also the innocence of Frankenstein before he was regarded as a monster. He was a simple, accidental character. His fate was wrought in the hands of someone else.” Sam Raimi, in an interview with IGN, reiterated Church’s thoughts on Sandman. ”He is a real human being that something extraordinary happens to and he has goals that are outside of those goals that are sometimes attributed to movie and comic supervillains,” says Raimi. ”He wants nothing to do with dominating the world or the United States or the government. He really just wants what is best for him and his family. He doesn’t consider himself to be a villain necessarily.”
Church solidified his role of Sandman when giving his acceptance speech for a supporting actor award for Sideways at the Broadcast Film Critics Awards dinner. “(Raimi) and (producer) Laura Ziskin were really taken with the acceptance speech and thought I’d be great to play Sandman,” Church explains. ”Somehow that speech told them I was the guy. We met the next week, and I was offered the part. I told Sam, ‘I’ve got to give more acceptance speeches.’”
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