Tim Allen Was More Grinchy Than Jolly As Santa Claus, According To His Costar
Tim Allen wasn't always a holiday icon. The actor was a standup comic before his big TV break playing Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor on ABC's "Home Improvement." The show ran from 1991 to 1999 — in fact, here's what Allen and the rest of the "Home Improvement" cast look like today. In 1994, when "Home Improvement" was at its peak popularity, Allen took on the role of Scott Calvin aka Santa Claus in "The Santa Clause."
That was the first film in the series, followed by "The Santa Clause 2" in 2002 and "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" in 2006 with Allen playing Santa in all three. The franchise got another life as the TV series "The Santa Clauses" on Disney+, and in the first episode — "Chapter One: Good to Ho" — Casey Wilson played a grown-up version of one of the kids from the first film. While Allen may have been playing the holly jolly Santa Claus, his behavior on set was anything but Santa like.
Wilson, comedian and actor from "Saturday Night Live," co-hosts the podcast "B**** Sesh," and in Episode 347, she made it clear just how horrible it was to work with Allen. "Tim Allen was such a b*****. It was the truly single worst experience I've ever had with a co-star ever." That's not really the vibe you'd expect from someone playing Santa, or the vibe from someone who cares about their co-workers.
Tim Allen didn't take time to talk to Casey Wilson directly
Casey Wilson and Tim Allen had a short scene together, but it was enough, from the sounds of it, to leave her not wanting to work with him again. Wilson explained the scene they were in on her podcast. "It's just me and Tim Allen, and I'm supposed to throw things at him, I think he's a burglar," she said.
Then, it sounds like Allen had some notes for Wilson on her performance, but not that he's going to tell her directly. Instead, he "goes over to the producer who is standing four feet from me and goes, and I hear him, he goes, 'You gotta tell her to stop stepping on my lines,'" Wilson explained. "The producer turns to me with horror on his face and has to walk one foot to me and he goes, 'Um, Tim would ask that you stop stepping on his lines.'" It seems odd that he wouldn't be able to just talk to her directly; perhaps he thought he was too big a star? No way to know.
But apparently Wilson could have seen Allen behave much worse. She said that he left the set in a dramatic fashion when his time filming the scene was done, complete with dropping his Santa cape on the floor. Then someone, "perhaps in the crew breezes past me," said Wilson, "and just goes, 'You're seeing him on a good day.'" Yikes!
Tim Allen has admitted to bad behavior as Santa Claus before
Casey Wilson also noticed how others behaved around Tim Allen on the set of "The Santa Clauses." To hear her describe it, it doesn't sound like he had a problem with her specifically, but just an overall attitude when a scene would wrap: "When he was done, he was so f—ing rude," Wilson said. "Never made eye contact, never said anything. It was so uncomfortable."
Allen has admitted to some not-so-nice behavior on set as Santa Claus before. On "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Allen explained that during "The Santa Clause 2," he ended up cursing, loudly, on-set in front of a bunch of kids. It came after what sounded like a long day on set and with two kids fighting in the background during filming. It shocked the kids that "their Santa has just screamed the f-bomb," Allen said. After that, Allen didn't do that again. We wonder if what Wilson said about his behavior will cause a similar turnaround.