During an episode of her podcast, Casey Wilson explained what it was like working alongside Tim Allen on an episode of his Disney+ series, “The Santa Clauses.” While he often appears as the funny guy on-screen, it turns out that Allen has a much different side to him off-screen. Wilson called working with him “the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever.”
From movie series to television series
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The series serves as a sequel to Allen’s three films in the franchise: The Santa Clause (1994), The Santa Clause 2 (2002), and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006). He explained why he agreed to join the television series as both the lead actor and an executive producer during an interview on The Tonight Show, explaining to host Jimmy Fallon that the films had too many holes. “I never understood, in the movie, why the elves, when I showed up at the North Pole, didn’t go, ‘What happened to the other guy?’ I just hop in the sleigh with the kid and we go up and nobody ever asked, ‘Does Mrs. Claus know that the other guy’s dead? Did the other guy die?'” Allen said.
In the show, Elizabeth Mitchell continues her portrayal as Mrs. Clause, which she provided in the second and third films. Additionally, Allen’s real-life daughter, Elizabeth Allen-Dick, plays the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clause, Sandra Calvin-Clause. Allen said that in the series, “The Clauses — I have a family now — and they fill up the holes.” The show recently wrapped up its second season on the streaming service.
Wilson says Allen was a horrible co-star
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Wilson joined Allen as a guest star in the show’s pilot episode. She explained part of the episode’s plot, saying, “So I’m in a scene. It’s just me and Tim Allen and I’m supposed to throw things at him,” Wilson remembered. “I think he’s a burglar. So he’s coming down the chimney, obviously as Santa, and I am woken up thinking there’s an intruder, basically like a home invasion scene.”
She continued, saying, “So I’m throwing things at him. [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.’ 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.'” She had a pretty colorful way of describing his behavior – “Tim Allen was such a [expletive],” she said.
Wilson explained that she had kept quiet about this story for a while (the pilot debuted back in November 2022) because a producer on the show is “a great friend” and she didn’t want to ruin the magic of the movies for her children who loved them.
She wasn’t the only one to notice Allen’s behavior
Wilson went on to explain how Allen’s attitude changed the atmosphere of the work environment, saying that everyone around him was walking on eggshells and just looking “frantic.” She said that “When he was done, he was so [expletive] rude. Never made eye contact, never said anything. It was so uncomfortable.”
She also said that he would leave the set without really letting anyone know he was doing so. “It’s the end, and Tim Allen goes, ‘Leaving!,’ takes his Santa cape, picks it up and drops it on the floor and walks out,” Wilson said. “And they hustle in his stand-in; lovely man, who was much nicer to act against. People are scurrying to pick up his velvet Santa coat. He’s a [expletive].”
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On set, Wilson noticed that she wasn’t the only one taking note of Allen’s behavior. She described how, “And this is the best… I will not say who said this. This was someone that I do not know, perhaps in the crew. [He or she] breezes past me and just goes, ‘You’re seeing him on a good day.'”