Thomas Haden Church talks creating his ‘All About Steve’ character

From LATimes.com:

On the process of creating the role:
“[Sandra Bullock] called and we talked for like, two hours. I told her all the things I didn’t think were right with the character. She was like, ‘How do we address this? You tell me what it will take for you to be in this movie.’ “

They set up a conference call with writers and producers: “Everybody pitched and collaborated and blah blah blee, and they were like, ‘We will start getting pages to you for your approval in a week.’ And they did. She, as assertively as anyone I’ve ever dealt with in the industry, knew what she wanted and with surgical precision, she made it happen.”

Chief among the changes, the actor wanted the character to be “less bitchy” and more of a fading former war correspondent. “Arthur Kent is somebody I thought about,” Church declares. “I remembered him from Desert Storm, the ‘Scud Stud.’ He was this kind of — with the hair, and his shirt was always open, and he’d wear camo pants and jump boots. That’s what I wanted, this combat reporter who has sort of been demoted because he’s getting older. He’s a little embittered about that. They didn’t defer to every note but they were highly collaborative.”