Working on a Christmas show should be fun, but for Casey Wilson, acting with Tim Allen on The Santa Clauses was anything but a holly jolly good time.
“Tim Allen was such a bitch,” Wilson, 43, said on a recent episode of her “Bitch Sesh” podcast via Variety. “It was the truly single worst experience I’ve ever had with a costar ever.”
Wilson guest starred on the 2022 pilot episode of Disney+’s The Santa Clauses. The series, which is the continuation of The Santa Clause film trilogy, is currently in its second season. It follows Scott Calvin a.k.a. Santa Claus (Allen) as he navigates his next chapter in the North Pole after realizing that he needs to find a successor. Wilson, for her part, portrayed the adult version of 1994’s Sara, the little girl who gave Santa soy milk after he said he was lactose intolerant.
While Wilson filmed her episode with Allen, 70, more than a year ago, she revealed on her podcast that she “buried” the story about her experience because she’s “great” friends with a producer on the series. The Happy Endings alum also noted that her children “loved the movies,” so she kept her alleged on-set issues under wraps.
Wilson proceeded to recount shooting a scene with Allen in which she was “supposed to throw things” at him because her character thinks he’s a burglar and not Santa coming down the chimney.
“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,’” Wilson alleged. “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.’”
The Physical actress remembered thinking that “everybody was walking on eggshells” when Allen was on set. In addition to allegedly being scolded for the line mishap, Wilson said when the Home Improvement alum was done, “he was so f–king rude” and allegedly “never made eye contact, never said anything.”
Wilson noted the whole situation was “so uncomfortable” but not uncommon, according to an alleged conversation she had with a crew member. “It’s the end [of the scene], and Tim Allen goes, ‘Leaving!’ [He] takes his Santa cape, picks it up and drops it on the floor and walks out,” Wilson recalled. “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.”
Once Allen exited the stage, Wilson claimed that “someone that I do not know, perhaps in the crew” commented on the situation. “[He or she] breezes past me and just goes, ‘You’re seeing him on a good day,’” she alleged.
While Allen has yet to comment on Wilson’s allegations, he previously revealed that he has had one major mess up while playing Scott Calvin/Santa. While filming Santa Clause 2 in 2002, Allen accidentally dropped an F-bomb.
“It was like cats. They wouldn’t leave me alone. I’m dressed like Santa Claus. I look like Santa Claus. We had a North Pole set,” he said of working with so many kids during a January 2021 appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, noting that after hours in the suit he grew “very angry” when two kids started to argue and delay the shoot.
Allen continued: “Fifteen takes later, the kids said one more word and I let out the loudest F-bomb. And I turned around, and there are 12 children who look like you had ripped their legs off. Their Santa has just screamed the F-bomb.”
Despite the awkward scene, Allen chose to reprise his role in the Disney+ series and the show soon became a family affair. His real-life daughter Elizabeth Allen-Dick plays his TV daughter, Sandra, which has been a gift for Allen.
“It’s one of those moments that I’ll carry with me forever,” he exclusively told Us Weekly in December. “To see the professional that she’s turned into, [she] treats everybody well, shows up on time, does her job, works long hours, [with] no complaints.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Allen’s rep for comment.
