Tim Allen Was Incredibly Disrespectful To Rene Russo On The Big Trouble Set

Tim Allen is a complicated figure for a lot of folks of a certain age. Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on “Home Improvement” turned him into a beloved TV dad, voicing Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story” made him synonymous with the childhoods of a generation, and perhaps most importantly, he’s Santa Claus. He’s also an actor who has been very open about his conservative political beliefs, going so far as to star in the right-wing sitcom “Last Man Standing” for nine seasons. This makes him a polarizing presence in the overwhelmingly left-leaning Hollywood, but Allen’s controversies are far worse than his views on the American government.

In Pamela Anderson’s memoir “Love, Pamela,” she noted that Allen flashed her on the set of “Home Improvement” when she was only 23 and claimed, “He said it was only fair because he had seen me naked. Now we’re even. I laughed uncomfortably.” Allen denied the allegations. Elsewhere, Alan Rickman wrote in his diary during the production of “Galaxy Quest” that, “Tim Allen has this perverse need to needle, antagonize, provoke, demoralize. Takes every opportunity to belittle.” And perhaps most damning, his “The Santa Clauses” co-star Casey Wilson called working with him the “single worst experience [she’d] ever had with a co-star.

Unfortunately, the “Tim Allen is a bit of a jerk” allegations haven’t stopped there, as Barry Sonnenfeld’s new memoir “Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time: True Stories from a Career in Hollywood” includes stories from directing Allen in his film “Big Trouble,” and the actor’s downright disrespectful treatment of his co-star Rene Russo. I can roll my eyes at Allen’s conservative stances, but learning that he thinks Rene Russo is unattractive? Now, that’s just utter rubbish.

According to Sonnenfeld, Tim Allen was “a handful on set,” often disrupting things with loud, repetitive, and sometimes mean jokes. Not to mention, Allen would often toss in some unprompted improvisational ad-libs when he was supposed to be feeding his co-stars his lines off-camera, which is a real prick move to pull with your scene partner. “I stopped bringing Tim to the set to read his off-camera lines and had the script supervisor read in his stead,” Sonnenfeld wrote. That’s obnoxious enough, but Allen’s comments toward his co-star Rene Russo are pretty egregious. Sonnenfeld said that during rehearsals for the scene in “Big Trouble” when Allen and Russo meet for the first time, he stressed the importance of the two having “instant chemistry,” and gave the direction that he needed to be “instantly smitten.”

Instead of taking the note and then doing his job as an actor, Allen pushed back and asked, “Why would I be?” Sonnenfeld explained that Russo is beautiful and in the previous scene, she was “funny and witty,” but Allen retorted, “I’m not attracted to her.” Again, Rene Russo is one of the most beautiful women on the planet and even modeled for Vogue before she turned to acting, so Allen’s comments are mind-boggling, but even if he didn’t find her attractive … it’s literally his job as an actor to act as if he was. Russo tried to play it off by joking, “I’ll act attractive, Tim. I promise,” in what Sonnenfeld described as a Marilyn Monroe voice, but Allen declared, “It’s hard to act attracted to someone if they’re not attractive.” As a wise fish once said, “Oh, brother! This guy STINKS!” Sonnenfeld was clearly getting frustrated and said, “You’re an actor, Tim. Just act like [you’re] attracted to one of the most beautiful women in the world. OK?!” but All Allen could muster was, “I can try.” Fortunately, Russo was apparently more “amused than hurt by this mean human” and the film shoot carried on. 

Hilariously, Sonnenfeld considers “Big Trouble” one of his favorite movies he’s ever made — rude behavior be damned.