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Thomas Haden Church has played a lot of characters in his day. A comic-book villain in two Spider-Man movies? Check. A high school English teacher whose lesson on The Scarlet Letter gets taken a little too seriously by one of his students? Check. And who could forget his turn as Lyle Van de Groot in Disney’s George of the Jungle movies? Suffice it to say, he’s been around the block once or twice.
Now, at the age of 64, the actor says he was all but ready to pack it up on playing roles that he doesn’t identify with. Enter Tires Season 2, where Haden Church plays a sarcastic womanizer, a wealthy business owner, and the surprisingly hilarious father of Shane Gillis‘ character. It’s a far cry from who he sees himself as, but one that the show’s creators and writers pinned him as immediately.
“There was [talk] that he was a little bit of a ladies’ man and I kind of wanted to pull back on some of that, just because of my age, but we still wanted to keep elements of, you know, Phil still kind of fancies himself by the way he dresses, by the way he is is is clothed. He still does kind of consider himself to be a bit of a snack for the ladies,” Haden Church told DECIDER in an interview. “Which is so silly, you know, it’s so ridiculous at my age.”
To those who watch, however, the concept and the vision are clear. While Haden Church resides in rural Texas most of the year and could not be less like Phil in real life, he steps into the role perfectly, adding to the cast a missing piece from Season 1 that fans may not have even known was needed. And while it may not be who he is intrinsically, Haden Church says he’s sure having a fun time getting to step outside of his own comfort zone for the show.
“I’m not used to being around a lot of, I could say ‘society people.’ Going out and seeing men that are very close to my age and still [thinking], ‘You know, the ladies still find me snackable,'” he joked. “So that part of it was a lot of fun because it’s not who I am at all. I mean, I’m married. It’s not who I am at all.”
Photo: NetflixDuring the conversation, the Divorce and Wings alum also opened up about getting the chance to improv on set with the cast of comedians, a career first for him, as well as the hope that they may be able to come back for a third season.
Check out Decider’s full chat with Haden Church below.
DECIDER: I want to start by asking how this show came to you. Had you watched the first season and were you a fan or did they reach out to you first?
THOMAS HADEN CHURCH: I have a connection at Rough House, which is Danny McBride’s company, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, and those guys, we had a project over there they were considering a few years ago, and one of the executives reached out to me about it and wanted to know if I would at all consider it. So they sent me scripts, I watched the first season, which I thought was very entertaining, but obviously, they had done it on a little bit of a shoestring budget, but I really thought they did a nice job for the resources they had. And I think that Shane is becoming a superstar comedian, and I just really enjoyed the chemistry of the show. So then I read the scripts, and then I got on and started having conversations with John McKeever, who’s the showrunner and director. I really liked John’s energy, and they were willing to collaborate from the toes to the ears and it was awesome. And Steve Gerben is the other executive producer, creator. And on with those guys, they were just like, “We wanna create Phil with you. Like, we want to build him. Now that we know who’s gonna play Phil, we wanna build the character with you, not for you, but with you,” and that’s what we did and it was fun.
It’s so interesting that you mentioned Rough House. I ended up doing all of the interviews for The Righteous Gemstones. Did you watch the other Rough House shows, were there ever any conversations about bringing you in there?
No, I was a big fan of Eastbound [& Down], for some reason I was distracted by the rest of life whenever Vice Principals was on, I guess it ran a couple of seasons. And then Gemstones, I never really got into it, but my brother, one of my brothers, who has very close comedic sensibilities absolutely loves it. And then especially whenever the first [episode of] the season premiered, and they did that episode with Bradley Cooper, I was like, “Oh my god, I have been missing out on something that is so explosively creative.” I actually only met Danny once and it was for HBO. When Gemstones was starting out and we were doing a series called Divorce and I met him at one of those kinds of upfront HBO deals and really really a lot of appreciation for what he does and what Walton Goggins does and you know obviously John Goodman is a major inspiration for me. But I had never had any real opportunity with those guys.
I feel like there’s there’s definitely a future potential there because we know Danny McBride, he’s gonna come back with another show at some point. And you deserve to be on it because I have to admit, I forgot how funny you are in comedies. There’s a moment with you and your financial consultant a black ops bit that had me laughing.
We have a lot of fun and I got to tell you, their not-so-secret weapon is Stavros Halkias. He is so fun, all of them are — Steve [Gerben], Kilah [Fox], Chris O’Connor, Andrew Schultz and Tommy [Pope], and clearly Shane. Immediately felt like I had chemistry with Shane but I gotta say some of my favorite scenes were opposite of Stavi. I mean, he really is, I think, the hidden weapon on that show. He was not hidden but he’s definitely a howitzer for them because he is so quick and there’s a ton of improvisation, as you can imagine, when you’re working with a bunch of comedians, and I never had that experience before. All the shows that I’ve ever done […] I’d always just worked with actors. I’ve never really worked with comedians that much. And they’re all comedians, even all the guest stars, everybody, they’re almost stem to stern comedians. And I just never had that experience before and it was really fun and just like explosive humor detonating everywhere.
Photo: Netflix Did you get to jump in with any of your own cuts? Like, did they give you the long leash to try out any of your own improv?
Just that stuff that you were talking about, the black ops stuff, that was all just just me ripping with those guys. The thing about John [McKeever], the way John directs — and I really think John’s got a big career ahead of him — he’s like in with you. When you are in the middle of a take John will just [say], “Thomas, try anything. Just try something else. Just try something,” and I’m like, “Well, give me an idea.” […] Even when he wasn’t on camera, Shane’s like, “Why don’t you try this or?” And then I was comfortable straight away making suggestions to them. The dueling Washington, the dueling George Washingtons, that was my idea in a script meeting. Shane was going to be George Washington and they wanted me to be somebody else. My first idea was like, “What if I’m not even not even a Revolutionary War general? What if I’m a Civil War general?” And they go, “That was funny, Phil is like so out of touch.” I go, “Or what if, what I’m George Washington? And then Shane and I have that dynamic of dueling George Washington,” then they thought that was funnier so that’s what we did.
What was it like to come into this in the second season, though? I know you said the chemistry was immediate but what did you have to do to catch up with the cast, specifically your on-screen son?
I got there and they had already started shooting but because I’m not in the first three [episodes]. They had really started shooting when I got there but I did get there a couple of weeks early and started just going by […] They would be like, “Hey, we’re having a production today but then we’re gonna have script reading after that, why don’t you come?” […] Even before I started shooting I was immediately invited into the inside, whatever the brain trust of doing and breaking out who Phil was going to be. There was [talk] that he was a little bit of a lady’s man and I kind of wanted to pull back on some of that, just because of my age, but we still wanted to keep elements of, you know, Phil still kind of fancies himself by the way he dresses, by the way, he is is is clothed, like, he still does kind of consider himself to be a bit of a snack for the ladies. Which is so silly, it’s so ridiculous at my age. I live in pretty remote Texas […] I’m not used to being around a lot of, I could say, ‘society people.’ It’s just not what happens where we live. Going out and seeing men that are very close to my age and [thinking], “The ladies still find me snackable,” so that part of it was a lot of fun because it’s not who I am at all. I mean, I’m married, it’s not who I am at all.
So are we coming back for Season 3 then if Netflix gives the renewal?
I mean, the breadcrumbs are the size of shoeboxes and they are leading to Phil returning because I buy Valley Forge. I buy the whole smash of all the stores. That’s all really based on Steve’s life and his dad. I met his dad, you know, his dad the Valley Forge he sold years ago and then he started all over again with the company called Tires Inc., and he’s got a bunch. I met, hung out with Steve’s dad, super nice guy. Really nice guy, very funny in his own right. I think Steve’s dad has like 10 Tires Inc. stores. All in that area in Westchester and Valley Forge and all in that area […[ I really loved it, I loved shooting there. Yeah, I mean, absolutely, I would consider it because I had so much fun. And we left the door wide open and I think the reviews have been pretty flattering and if those guys are, if Netflix is open to it.
Tires Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.
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