LOS ANGELES -- Usually the most offensive thing about an Eddie Murphy movie is the script.

Not so in the new family comedy Imagine That, which may test the sensitivities of the politically correct with its borderline caricature of a faux-Native American financier.

Opening tomorrow, the film casts Thomas Haden Church as Johnny Whitefeather, a clownish, cutthroat, platitude-spouting aboriginal business foe of Murphy's workaholic investment banker.

Murphy eventually gains an advantage thanks to the mystical assistance of his young daughter's imaginary friends, but not before Church's Whitefeather has enthralled their firm with plenty of pseudo-Native American gobbledygook.

Too silly to take seriously? Church hopes so, trusting the character is just ludicrous enough to negate any potential backlash.

"The guy is almost completely a hoax. We even did the math -- should he be a 16th (Native American) or should he be a 32nd? We wanted to go right up to the edge of absurd."

Regardless, Church was still careful enough to consult with aboriginal leaders and friends about the role, including Canadian actor Gary Farmer.

"I'm not going to say I was Daniel Day-Lewis and I was enmeshed in the culture for a year, but what I did do was -- I started nosing around traditional history and Native history.

"As we got closer to filming, I had a few conversations with a guy who's the tribal council for the Sioux nation ... I (also) called Gary, just to get a sense of it. The question was from some people, 'Why are they hiring you and not a true Native American?' And I said, 'At the end of the script, we take the curse off that.' "

For Church -- whose past roles have included a doltish mechanic, a shape-shifting super-villain and a womanizing washed-up actor -- the appeal of Imagine That was two-fold.

First, he wanted to make a movie his five-year-old daughter Cody could see.

"I haven't made a movie yet where I can't be concerned about the content. This is the first one."

And secondly, he wanted to work with Murphy, who he calls one of his heroes.

"He and I are around the same age and I was just enthralled by him when I was in college and he was on Saturday Night Live. I thought he was fantastic ... Early on in your career, you're like, 'I'm going to work with everyone!' And then suddenly you're like, 'Oh s---, I've been at this 20 years and I haven't worked with anybody!' I did a mini-series 10 years ago because I really wanted to work with James Coburn. The pay was terrible, the movie was okay, but I got to play his son and that was enough for me."

Church, who first enjoyed success on TV's Wings, is no stranger to career detours, most notably 2004's wine-tasting road trip comedy Sideways.

While offers quickly followed -- notably the part of Sandman in 2007's Spider-Man 3 -- he remains predominantly recognized as a comic actor.

Case in point: Later this year he'll be seen in the Sandra Bullock farce All About Steve.

Does he ever aspire to do more dramatic work?

"Someone said to me years ago, 'You go to sleep on a drama pillow and you wake up on a comedy pillow.' And that's probably true.

"All the things I want to be carry me into my dreams, but then whenever I get up, I'm trying to make my daughter laugh and trying to make the dog laugh."

This cattleman heading West again with AMC

Real-life cattleman Thomas Haden Church is getting back in the saddle.

The actor is co-writing and producing The Last Horseman, a new western mini-series for AMC, the cable network responsible for Mad Men, Breaking Bad and 2008's Emmy-winning Broken Trail, in which he starred opposite Robert Duvall.

"Because of the success of Broken Trail, AMC approached me, 'Is there anything you want to pitch?' "

And indeed there was. The true story follows an African American cowboy from slavery to emancipation to life as a fugitive.

"He had his outlaw career and then realized there was either a bullet or a rope somewhere, so he went completely straight."

Reformed, he became a respected member of a community in Colorado and was actually poised to be elected constable in the town when a bounty hunter tracked him down and assassinated him.

"This was 12 years after he had committed any nefarious deed," explains Church. "It's really a great story that comes full circle."

Right now, the production is looking for a place to call home.

Broken Trail was shot in Alberta. And while Church doesn't know where this new project will film, he doesn't rule out a return trip to Canada.

"I'll do what I can to bring it to Texas and New Mexico, which have great incentives, but Alberta was great too and can serve many location requirements."

For Church, the western genre will always be a favourite, not just because he runs a Texas ranch, but because it's always allowed him to do more than just comedy.

"I did a small part in Tombstone, which was very dramatic. I don't think I even smiled in the movie."

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