Tim Allen Was ‘So F—ing Rude’ on ‘Santa Clauses’ Set, Says Casey Wilson: It Was the ‘Single Worst Experience I’ve Ever Had With a Co-Star’
Casey Wilson said on a recent episode of her “Bitch Sesh” podcast that working with Tim Allen on an episode of his Disney+ series “The Santa Clauses” was “the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever.”
Wilson, best known for her roles on “Saturday Night Live” and “Happy Endings,” guest starred in the show’s pilot episode, which debuted in November 2022. “The Santa Clauses,” which recently finished airing its second season on Disney+, serves as a sequel to Allen’s three movies “The Santa Clause” (1994), “The Santa Clause 2” (2002) and “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006).
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“Tim Allen was such a bitch. It was the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a co-star ever,” Wilson said, noting that she had “buried this” story until now because a producer on the show is “a great friend” of hers and because her kids “loved the movies.”
“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. 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.’”
Wilson said “everybody was walking on egg shells” around Allen on set and “people just looked frantic.” She added, “When he was done, he was so fucking rude. Never made eye contact, never said anything. It was so uncomfortable.”
After Wilson finished shooting one shot that blocked her in a close-up, she said Allen immediately exited the set without notifying any of his fellow cast members or crew.
“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 added. “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 bitch. 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.‘”
Variety has reached out to Allen’s representative for comment.
“The Santa Clauses” is created by Jack Burditt. Allen stars in the show opposite Elizabeth Mitchell and also serves as an executive producer. The show’s two seasons are now available to stream on Disney+. It has not yet been picked up for a third season.
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