Tim Allen Was a Total Jerk to an A-List Actress Because He Didn’t Find Her ‘Attractive’
Tim Allen hasn’t been making a ton of movies or TV shows lately, but he has been making a lot of headlines for being a giant asshole. There were the reports that Allen previously threw his Home Improvement co-star Patricia Richardson under the bus during contract negotiations with ABC, allegations that he exposed himself to “Tool Girl” Pamela Anderson in 1991 and claims that he was “so fucking rude” while working with Casey Wilson, which seems especially egregious because he was literally dressed like Santa Claus at the time.
So it’s not entirely shocking that a new anecdote about Allen being a dick to his collaborators just dropped.
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As reported by Slash Film, director Barry Sonnenfeld’s newest book, Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood, describes the process of making the 2002 film Big Trouble. The largely forgotten crime comedy starred Allen, as well as Rene Russo and Dennis Farina, based on a novel by columnist Dave Barry. Clearly, the movie tried to capitalize on the success of Sonnenfeld’s Get Shorty, but still ended up bombing at the box office.
Sonnenfeld writes that Allen was “a handful on set.” For example, he kept ad-libbing when he was supposed to be feeding off-camera lines to his scene partners, which became so frustrating that Sonnenfeld was forced to ask the script supervisor to read Allen’s part instead of Allen.
Worst of all was his behavior towards Russo. During rehearsals, Allen was supposed to act “instantly smitten” with the Russo character. But Allen questioned “Why would I be?” before further arguing, “I’m not attracted to her."
This would obviously be a horrifically insulting thing to say about anyone, but it’s especially baffling considering that the person whose appearance he was criticizing was noted movie star knockout Rene Russo. Allen calling Russo unattractive is a little like a four-star restaurant receiving a bad review from a sentient Arby’s sandwich covered in mold and used Band-Aids.
Not to mention the fact that he was hired to act in the scene, not genuinely become aroused. He didn’t stubbornly insist that he couldn’t film The Santa Clause because he wasn’t capable of delivering millions of toys in a single night, did he?
To be clear, this was all happening in front of Russo, who tried to joke about her co-star’s abhorrent behavior. “I’ll act attractive, Tim. I promise,” she pledged in a “Marilyn Monroe voice.” But Allen allegedly fired back: “It’s hard to act attracted to someone if they’re not attractive.”
At this point an exasperated Sonnenfeld finally told the Jungle 2 Jungle star, “You’re an actor, Tim. Just act like (you’re) attracted to one of the most beautiful women in the world. Okay?!”
“I can try,” Allen responded.
Man, it’s no wonder that Disney tried to find new and confusing ways to make Buzz Lightyear movies without having to work with this guy.
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