As the top oil-producing state in America, it’s no surprise that crude runs through the storytelling veins of Texas. Now Thomas Haden Church has become part of that cinematic history with Accidental Texan, a wistful story of small towns and big dreams.
Based on the 1999 novel Chocolate Lizards, the movie follows down-on-his-luck Harvard grad Erwin Vandeveer (Rudy Pankow), a failed actor whose dreams of stardom have imploded and now he’s stuck in rural Texas. Luckily, that’s where he falls in with Merle (Church), an old-school wildcatter who’s bet his future on one last strike. Church described Merle as “a timeless character – or really a bit out of time. I based him on men that I worked around, or men that worked with my dad. Men that were ranchers but had their hands, large or little, in the oil business.”
Before his own Hollywood fame in Sideways and Spider-Man 3, Church got a taste of the oil fields when he was a teenager, first in his native South Texas and later in Louisiana. “By no means was it a career,” he said. “I dropped out of high school, I worked in the oil fields for about six months, I moved on to something else, and then my parents convinced me to go back to high school – which I’m glad I did.”
“The heart of any Texas town was the town square.”
For the film, he didn’t just rely on his memories of the industry, especially since it has evolved so dramatically in the decades since he was covered in crude. Before filming, he went on a research mission, driving out into oil country with people who knew it well. “I went out with a land man, I went out with a drill site supervisor, visited leasing offices and county clerk offices where all the deeds are registered for purchases – all of that is fascinating to me.”
For Church the film isn’t just about the oil industry, but about small town Texas. Born in California but raised in Texas, and a full-time resident of the Lone Star State for the last 23 years, he grew up with what he called “the town square economy, where the heart of any Texas town was the town square.” In Accidental Texan, the town of Buffalo Gap still has its town square, but like the diner run by Merle’s best and oldest friend, Faye (Carrie-Anne Moss), it’s struggling. That’s an experience Church sees replicated across the state. “With the advances of ‘civilization’ and the Walmart empire, a lot of that got pulled away and the town square is not as thriving.”
However, over the last few years there’s been a reversal of that misfortune in cities like Fredericksburg, Georgetown, Llano, San Saba, and Kerrville, where Church has settled. “Where I live in Kerrville, the courthouse is the center of town and everything around it is thriving businesses.” The same applies to Buffalo Gap. “Over the last 25 to 30 years, they’ve experienced a boom, and it’s become a lot more touristy than it used to be, but it’s still a charming little place just up the road from Abilene.”
Accidental Texan is streaming on Hulu now.
This article appears in December 20 • 2024.