Remember Thomas Haden Church?

Man, talk about a disappearing act

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Thursday, April 3rd 2008 at 6:13 AM

After Sideways Thomas Haden Church was the man to talk to. Why? Because he was Sandman in Spider-Man 3. Then what happened? Well, Spider-Man 3 shit the bed and Church's voice acting in Over the Hedge and Charlotte's Web didn't do him any favors. I still remember the DreamWorks rep wanting to kill me because I asked a couple of Spidey questions while interviewing Church for Over the Hedge… Oh man, if looks could kill?

Anyway, no, Church isn't dead… In fact he is alive and ready for a new film with Kate Hudson called Big Eyes.

News of this project first hit the scene this February when Hudson was announced to play Margaret Keane, the painter whose distinctive creations featuring big-eyed children became one of art's first mass-market success stories in the 1950s. Church will play Walter Keane, Margaret's second husband… So what's the big deal? Well, Wikipedia spells it out for us:

In the 1960s, Margaret Keane's artwork was sold under the name of her husband of the time, Walter Keane, her second husband. Many reasons might be put forward to explain this, but it was also one of the reasons they divorced. Not wanting to relinquish the rights to the artwork, Walter and Margaret's divorce proceeding went all the way to Federal court. At the hearing, Margaret painted in front of the judge to prove her point. Walter declined to paint before the court, citing a sore shoulder. In 1965, the courts sided with her, enabling her to paint under her own name.

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski are set to direct from their own script.

Oh, and just to clear things up, Church didn't really disappear. The guy does have three movies coming out in 2008, but his profile has certainly dwindled showing just what starring in a high-profile superhero franchise can do for someone.

One of Keane's pieces of artwork can be seen below.